Patrícia Jerónimo services attesting that the Mozambican parent(s) is or are abroad in the service of Mozambique [by analogy with Article 5 (2) of the Nationality Regulation]. Attribution based on birth abroad to a Mozambican father or mother combined with declaration of the wish to be Mozambican: Article 23 (3) of the Constitution widened the scope of ius sanguinis by recognising as Mozambican citizens the children born abroad78 to a Mozambican father or to a Mozambican mother (not in the service of the state), with the sole requirement that they expressly declare their wish to be Mozambican, either by themselves, if older than 18 years of age, or through their legal representatives, if younger. It is no longer required that they renounce any other citizenship, as was the rule under the 1990 Constitution and as is still the letter of Article 8 (1) of the Nationality Act. As mentioned earlier, the 2004 Constitution eliminated all provisions requiring renunciation to any foreign citizenship as condition to obtain Mozambican citizenship, either by attribution or by acquisition. The clear intention of the 2004 constituent assembly was to reform the citizenship law so as to allow dual citizenship. Therefore, the section in Article 8 (1) of the Nationality Act that required renunciation to any foreign citizenship became unconstitutional and was implicitly repealed with the entry into force of the 2004 Constitution. Article 23 (3) of the Constitution does not set a deadline for the declaration of the wish to be Mozambican by the child or by his or her the legal representatives. Read in conjunction with Article 25 of the Constitution,79 however, it is possible to conclude that the deadline for the child is one year after turning 21 years of age. In the absence of any specific deadline for the declaration by the child’s legal representatives, it can be argued that this declaration can be made at any time while the child is underage. In our view, however, a systematic interpretation of the Constitution would recommend the application by analogy of the deadline set in Article 24 (4) to the declarations made by the legal representatives of children born in Mozambique to foreign parents who are in Mozambique in the service of their country. In this case, the deadline for the declaration by the legal representatives is of one year after the birth of the child. Although the 2004 Constitution was a clear improvement in terms of legislative technique, there are still some unnecessary redundancies, inconsistencies and omissions in the text that should be corrected by constitutional amendment. This is one such case. There is no apparent reason to have both Article 25 and Article 24 (4), since they address the same issue and in similar terms.80 Article 25 applies to the cases in which individuals meet the requirements for citizenship attribution but did not obtain it due to option made by their legal representatives, i.e. due to the fact that their legal representatives did not make the required declaration in due time. It should cover both instances in which declarations by legal representatives are mentioned as requirement for citizenship attribution – Article 23 (3) and Article 24 (3) –, but that is not the case because Article 24 (4) sets the deadlines for the declarations to be made under Article 24 (3). In our opinion, one way to streamline the chapter on citizenship by birth in the Constitution would 78 As is the case with Article 23 (2), this provision uses the phrasing ‘even if born abroad’, instead of the more straightforward and accurate ‘born abroad’. See comments in the previous footnote. 79 Under the heading ‘On the grounds of majority’ (Por maioridade), Article 25 of the 2004 Constitution recognises as Mozambican citizens those who fulfil the requirements for attribution of citizenship by birth but did not obtain Mozambican citizenship due to their legal representatives’ inaction while they were underage, provided that they declare by themselves their wish to be Mozambican citizens, within one year after turning 21 years of age. 80 With the difference that the deadline for the declaration made by the child is set at one year after the child turns 18, in Article 24 (4), and at one year after the child turns 21, in Article 25. 28 RSCAS/GLOBALCIT-CR 2019/6 - © 2019 Author