By merit, not by paper

The controversy regarding the right of citizens with dual nationality to hold senior public office — such as ministers, or members of the Senate or of the Lower House of Parliament — was put an end to as the Lower House of Parliament voted, on Wednesday, in favour of dropping the restrictions on dual citizens to occupy such high government posts.

The action of the Lower House of Parliament came after its Legal Committee discussed the issue at length and consulted a wide range of legal scholars.

An overwhelming 113 deputies, out of the 139 who cast their votes, voted for lifting the constitutional restriction of dual nationality holders; 23 voted against, three abstained and 11 were absent.

The votes in favour are sufficient to approve and adopt this amendment to the Constitution, which, to start with, was unjustified.

The debate about this subject was not confined to Parliament; it stirred the interest of a wide range of citizens, with a majority, judging from all sorts of reports, supporting amending the law concerned with this issue.

Some participants in the national debate went as far as attempting at drawing a fine distinction between Jordanians who obtained another citizenship through a process of naturalisation and those who acquired it by birth, which would not have entailed swearing an oath of allegiance.

The wise majority of the people in the country had come to the conclusion that a true Jordanian would be loyal to and care about his/her homeland, dual nationality notwithstanding.

No one’s feeling of belonging to his/her homeland could be undermined by a foreign citizenship, unless by choice. Conversely, no person will feel more patriotic just by having a paper attesting that he/she is citizen of a country.

And no Jordanian choosing to live and serve in Jordan should be regarded with suspicion just because he/she obtained another citizenship, most often for non-political reasons.

Now that this non-issue was settled, it is the responsibility of policy makers and voters alike to make sure that the people they elect for high government functions have the necessary qualification, high moral character and the recognised competence to serve in a certain field.

It is only by what they give to the country that people should be recognised. The rest is secondary.