Report on Citizenship Law: Tanzania country, a right that is exclusive to its own citizens114. Such rights include the right to vote and the right to be elected in a public office. Furthermore, a citizen by naturalisation may be deprived of his or her citizenship for any of the following reasons115: i. The certificate of naturalisation was obtained by means of fraud, false representation or the concealment of any material fact. ii. Demonstrating, by act or speech, disloyalty or disaffection towards the Tanzania. iii. Unlawfully trading or communicating with any enemy with which Tanzania is at war. iv. Serving a prison sentence of more than twelve months, in any country, within five years of being naturalised. v. Residing in foreign countries for a continuous period of five years without registering with the Tanzanian Diplomatic mission annually, or notifying the Minister of the intention to retain Tanzanian citizenship. Additionally, a person who was a citizen by naturalisation or registration of another country gets deprived of that citizenship for reasons similar to any of those above, may also be deprived of their Tanzanian citizenship. It is however, hard to think of a situation where this may arise if the law prohibits dual citizenship in the first instance. Before the Minister makes the citizenship deprivation order, he or she must be satisfied that the continuation of one’s Tanzanian citizenship is conducive to the public good; and must give the person concerned a notice in writing informing him or her of the ground for the deprivation, and of his or her right to an inquiry before a Commission of Inquiry comprised of members appointed by the Minister116. 3.4 Due process The law on naturalisation and deprivation of citizenship in Tanzania vests considerable discretion in the executive or Minister. The naturalisation process, despite being quite prohibitively arduous and costly, ends with the minister having to make the final decision, which may or may not be in accord with the recommendations. The Act explicitly states that the Minister’s decision need not give reasons for his or her decision regarding the refusal to grant citizenship, and that decision is final and not subject to judicial review or appeal. This probably explains the scarcity of court cases challenging the minister’s refusal to grant citizenship. In contrast, the process of revocation of one’s citizenship by naturalisation entails some accountability and transparency safeguards that would guard against an arbitrary ministerial order. This includes the requirement for the minister to inform the affected person of the proposed grounds for the decision and the right to an inquiry before Commission of Inquiry. These safeguards have, however, been flouted on numerous occasions leading to arbitrary deprivations of citizenship, some of which have been contested in courts of law117. Moreover 114 TCA, section 14. TCA, section 15(1-2). 116 TCA, sections 15 & 16. 117 Examples on domestic cases provided under section 4 below. 115 16 RSCAS/GLOBALCIT-CR 2020/6- © 2020 Author(s)

Select target paragraph3