After the Thompson Fiasco - Is It Time to Change Ghana's Dual Citizenship Laws?

When president Mahama was forming his government, there was a rumour that he intended to make Dr Nii Moi Thompson, the renowed international economist, a deputy minister at the Ministry of Finance.

Currently an economic advisor and head of programmes with the United Nations in South Africa, Dr Thompson was expected to bring his strong experience in economic policies to complement Hon Seth Terkper, who is an accountant.

The president was said to be so determined to have Dr Thompson on board that he reportedly met with him in Addis Ababa during the recent AU summit there, followed by an invitation to Accra during which they had lunch at the presidency.

But when the list of deputy ministers was finalised, Dr Thompson's name was missing, leading insiders to speculate that he declined the president's request to abandon his lucrative UN job for a pittance in Ghana.

Deep-throat sources at the Flag Staff House have intimated that Dr Thompson was disqualified because he holds dual Ghanaian American citizenship, although he was willing to serve the government.

Indeed, no fewer than six potential ministerial appointees were said to have been qualified because of dual citizenship, depriving the nation of the needed skills for development.

President Kufuor was said to have faced a similar challenge, as was President Rawlings. Mr Rawlings, who is half Scottish and half-Ghanaiam, approached the problem by announcing the names of appointees on radio, thus forcing them to renounce their dual citizenship and join his government against their will.

As some critics, such as NPP firebrand Kennedy Agyapong, an America green card holder has criticised the president's economic team as "team z", the question is whether parliament would review the dual citizenship law to allow more Ghanaians from around the world to contribute their quota to national development.

Caption. Dr Thompson addressing Parliament of South Africa on the Millennium Development Goals