Gaye Sowe and Maria Saine 3.2 Deprivation and Loss of Citizenship The different modalities of loss of citizenship are addressed by section 13 and 14 of the 1997 Constitution and section 10 and 11 of The Gambia Nationality and Citizenship Act. By an amendment of the 1997 Constitution in 2001, Gambians became eligible to acquire citizenship of another country without losing their Gambian citizenship. 23 This provision explicitly provides for dual citizenship for the first time; but permission to hold another citizenship is restricted to citizens by birth. Section 12(A)(1) states that a citizen who acquires the citizenship of another country may if he or she desires retain his or her Gambian citizenship. Naturalised Gambians, however, are still required to renounce their other nationality under section 12 (4) of the 1997 Constitution. The amendment also provided that an “Act of the National Assembly may make provision for the better implementation of this section”, but no such legislation has been adopted. Section 13 of the constitution makes provisions for the deprivation of citizenship from a person who has registered or naturalised as a citizen in The Gambia (but not from a person who was born a citizen). The grounds on which deprivation may be ordered are that the person: (a) has acquired by registration, naturalisation or any voluntary and formal act (other than marriage) the citizenship of any other country. (b) has acquired the citizenship of The Gambia by means of fraud, false representation or the concealment of any material fact; (c) has at any time since acquiring citizenship of The Gambia, voluntarily claimed and exercised in a country other than The Gambia any rights available to him or her under the laws of that country, being rights accorded exclusively to that country’s citizens; (d) has within seven years after being registered or naturalised been convicted in any country of an offence involving fraud, dishonesty, or moral turpitude; And, in the case of grounds (c) and (d), that it is not conducive to the public good that he or she should continue to be a citizen of The Gambia.24 The Nationality and Citizenship Act provides significantly wider grounds for deprivation of citizenship than the constitution and has never been updated. However, the additional grounds must be regarded as superseded. Section 8 of the Act provides for deprivation of citizenship from a citizen by descent, registration or naturalisation (anyone other than a person acquiring citizenship based on birth in The Gambia – as provided under the law in effect in 1965) on grounds that a person has exercised rights in another country that would usually be exercised by citizens of that country (thus, it provides an additional route to prevent a person from holding dual citizenship in case there is no proof of legal acquisition of the other citizenship). Section 9 of the Act provides for deprivation of a citizen “it is not conducive to the public good that person should continue to be a citizen of The Gambia”, and, in case of a citizen by registration or naturalisation, on grounds of fraud; or, in case of a citizen by naturalisation, on grounds of disloyalty, communication with an enemy during war, conviction and sentencing to imprisonment for more than a year, and residence outside the territory for more than seven years. Section 10 of 23 Act No. 6 of 2001, which amended section 9 and added section 12A (1) in the Constitution to make way for dual citizen and by descent from either parents. 24 Constitution of The Gambia, 1997. Section 13. 8 RSCAS/GLOBALCIT-CR 2021/7 © 2021 Author(s)