On August 30, 2016, in an interview with LBS Managing Director, Ledgerhood Rennie, over the ELBC Super Morning Show, Dr. Togba-Nah Tipoteh stated that he DOES NOT SUPPORT Dual Citizenship.
Dr. Tipoteh, we submit herein our recognition of your contributions to our country. We honor and respect your views on national issues including Dual Citizenship. However, we respectfully state that you are on the wrong side of history and you are now the standard–bearer of a “Sinking-Ship” political platform (Anti-Dual Citizenship).
Dr. Tipoteh, as a long standing Diaspora resident yourself, we all remember your opposition to the Government of the Republic of Liberia and its laws, including the 1973 Alien and Nationality Law. While in exile, you advocated for Diaspora Liberians’ involvement in the overall development of Liberia and their right to citizenship in Liberia (Dual Citizenship).
Today you are now opposed to Dual Citizenship and a champion of the 1973 Alien and Nationality Law, a law that is inconsistent with the constitution of the Republic of Liberia and denies Diaspora Liberians of land ownership in Liberia and a woman’s right to pass on her citizenship to her children. Dr. Tipoteh, we will like to remind you about the history of the 1973 Alien and Nationality Law.
In the early 70’s when progressive movements were formulating in both the Diaspora and Liberia, Title 3 of the Liberian Code of Laws of 1956 known as the Aliens and Nationality Law, adopted by the Legislature of the Republic of Liberia on March 22, 1956 was amended through the Fourth Regular Session of the Forty-Fifth Legislature on May 9, 1974 as the Alien and Nationality Law, to be Title 4 of the Liberian Code of Laws Revised.
The 1974 Alien and Nationality Law includes the automatic loss of citizenship as stated in Chapter 22 without any due process of the law. Progressives living in the Diaspora at the time cried foul that the law was modified to deny them of their Liberian citizenship as they return home. Today, the very law you opposed in the early 70’s is the law you are now supporting.
Dr. Tipoteh, when you oppose Dual Citizenship now, you are telling the Diaspora relatives of those that died supporting your “progressive activities” of the past that they no longer deserve to be Liberians.
Our quest for Dual Citizenship is not an event but a process that is a generational fight and shall continue from your time as an advocate when you lived in the Diaspora until it is achieved. Unfortunately, you have now turned your back on this progressive crusade for fairness and development of the Motherland and are now a member of the regressive forces in Liberia trying to deny other Liberians their rights to citizenship of their native land. Dr. Tipoteh, you are on a “Sinking-Ship” and very soon your iconic progressive contributions shall be replaced and remembered by your “Anti Dual Citizenship” Standard Bearership.