Caroline Nalule and Anna Nambooze A referendum to adopt the proposed draft constitution that should have been held in April 2015 was postponed and in the interim, a new president was elected who had his mind set on other priorities169. All in all, the process seems to have stalled. 6. Conclusion Tanzania’s citizenship law over the years, from independence to the present has been a reflection of the popular debates seeking to promote the interests of those considered the native or indigenous Tanzanians versus whoever may not fit or is considered not to fit in that category. This is an issue that plagued Tanganyika right from before the independence day and afterwards, as well as Zanzibar, partly leading to its 1964 revolution. The indigenous or native Tanzanian was initially defined along racial lines, the Africans versus the Asians and Arabs versus the Europeans. While the 1961 Constitution of Tanganyika and the aligned citizenship law aimed for inclusivity of all persons in Tanganyika without discrimination on the basis of race, the tensions especially between Africans and Asians/Arabs, continued to fester. Moreover, Tanzania’s post-independence inclusive citizenship also extended to other African nationals in the spirit of Pan-Africanism. While Tanzania’s socialist policy may partly account for the stability of country and a stronger nationalistic sense among Tanzanians, when it was abolished it brought to the fore the economic disparities between those that would later be seen as profiteering from the capitalist economy and the disadvantaged Tanzanians. The debate was now not so much guided by the issue of race, although it continued to be a factor to some degree, but one of foreign investment, foreign workers and foreigners generally, as against the local Tanzanians. Hence, citizenship laws became more restrictive to keep out foreigners or all those deemed to be foreigners. That continues to be the present situation, which is also evident in other related laws such as the National Employment Promotion Service Act, 1999; the Immigration laws, as mentioned above; and most recently, the Non-Citizens (Employment Regulation) Act, 2014. Tanzania continues to battle with the questions of: who is a Tanzanian? Who qualifies to be a Tanzanian? To whom should Tanzanian citizenship be extended? Who should be disqualified from Tanzanian citizenship? Every country has to deal with these questions, and Tanzania’s varied historical social, political and economic and ideological contexts have much shaped the country’s citizenship and other related laws as they have evolved over time. While Tanzania still ponders its constitutional reforms, these are some of the recommendations and suggestions that could be taken into account with regard to citizenship. i. There is need for a more transparent and impartial, non-biased procedure in the grant and revocation of citizenship which is not currently the case as this discretionary power lies with the Minister. There should be an independent body to advise the Minister on such matters rather than have a body, appointed by the Minister, which may or may not review the Minister’s decision. The Minister’s powers need to be tempered with a more independent and impartial process in order to reduce the likelihood of arbitrary decisions. ii. In fulfilment of the country’s commitments under the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (ACRWC), Tanzania should introduce in its law a provision 169 M Kuhengwa (2016), ‘Tanzania: Draft new constitution- cautious approach by president Magufuli commendable’, Tanzania Daily News, 16 December 2016. RSCAS/GLOBALCIT-CR 2020/6 - © 2020 Author(s) 25