Julia Schweers
Generally, the act made denationalisation of naturalised citizens easy by including vague
and undefined reasons for which denationalisation was permissible, such as being ‘disloyal or
disaffected’ toward the government or ‘trad[ing] or communicat[ing] with an enemy’ in times of
war. Other, more clearly defined, reasons for denationalisation of naturalised citizens included
having ‘within five years after becoming naturalised been sentenced in any country to
imprisonment for a term of not less than twelve months’, having acquired Ghanaian citizenship
‘by means of fraud’, and residing outside Ghana for seven years without annually reregistration with the Ghanaian consulate (Nationality and Citizenship Act, No.1 of 1957, section
17(1) – 17(4)). The Act gave the minister discretion to refrain from denaturalisation of
naturalised citizens if he considered this conducive to the public good for the person concerned
to remain a Ghanaian citizen. The default decision for the minister was, thus, denaturalisation
– in contrast to citizens by birth and descent, who remained citizens by default unless the
minister decided that this was not conducive to the public good (Nationality and Citizenship
Act, No.1 of 1957, section 17(5)).
2.2. The Turbulent Years: Frequent Amendments to the Law between 1967 and
1979
This first definition of Ghanaian citizenship did not last very long. Only four years after its
formulation, the 1957 Nationality and Citizenship Act was replaced by the Nationality Act of
1961. The main change introduced by this Act was the removal of the British monarchy from
the oath of allegiance after Ghana removed the monarch as head of state and became a
Republic – while remaining within the Commonwealth (the collective organisation of the UK
and its former territories). The act, however, also deleted any mention of former citizens of the
UK and the colonies and British-protected persons and their right to Ghanaian citizenship. This
can be interpreted as an attempt to denationalise people of immigrant descent who formerly
were British-protected persons or citizens of the UK and colonies as those among them who
had not yet formally documented their new Ghanaian citizenship lost their right to citizenship.
A few years later, in February 1966, Ghana’s first president, Kwame Nkrumah, was
ousted in a coup d’état. In the following years, between 1966 and 1981, the country went
through a period of political instability and saw a number of alternating short-lived governments
of military and civil character. During this period, Ghanaian citizenship law was subject to
frequent amendments: in 1967, twice in 1969, in 1971, 1972, 1978, and twice in 1979.4 The
issue at the heart of these amendments was the citizenship of naturalised immigrants and their
children.
2.1.1 Citizenship Law under the National Liberation Council (1966 – 1969)
Only three months after gaining power, the National Liberation Council (NLC) enacted a new
citizenship law via decree in April 1967. The 1967 Nationality Decree relaxed provisions for
those born in Ghana before independence, for a short period between 1967 and 1969. Those
who were citizens of the UK and colonies or British-protected persons before independence
no longer needed to have a parent or grandparent who had also already been born on the
territory. Unconditional citizenship based on birth on the territory (jus soli) now applied to them.
4
Nationality Decree, No.161 of 1967; Ghana Nationaliy (Amendment) Decree, No.333 of 1969; Constitution of the
Republic of Ghana 1969; Ghana Nationality Act, No.361 of 1971; Ghana Nationality (Amendment) Decree 1972;
Ghana Nationality (Amendment) Decree 1978, Ghana Nationality (Amendment) Decree, No.42 of 1979,
Constitution of the Repubic of Ghana 1979.
4
Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies - EUI