Child born aboard aircraft

My wife and I had a trip for end of year holidays. As we were onboard coming back to Tanzania, my wife started feeling intense abdominal pain. Although we thought it was normal discomfort considering it was during the last days of her pregnancy, the pain took so long with every minute contractions. Our efforts to locate a doctor on board proved fruitful. After some time, my wife gave birth to a baby girl. Since then, we have been discussing the citizenship status of our first born without answers. Kindly provide us with legal guidance.

RT, Bukoba

Congratulations for the baby girl, and thanks for your intriguing question. Citizenship status is country-specific: it depends on the laws of a specific country. Generally, most countries recognize citizenship by birth; citizenship by descent and citizenship by naturalization, and in some countries, by registration.

In Tanzania, a person becomes a citizen by birth if they are born in Tanzania and one of the parents is a citizen of Tanzania; and by descent, if a person is born outside Tanzania and either parent is a citizen of Tanzania. However, for those born outside Tanzania, they only become citizens of Tanzania by descent if at the time of birth, either of their parents was a citizen of Tanzania by birth. This implies that if a person is born outside Tanzania and at the same time, both parents are citizens of Tanzania by descent, such a person does not automatically become a citizen of Tanzania. They can only become citizens of Tanzania by naturalization.

Of importance, under the Citizenship laws of Tanzania, a person born aboard on registered ship or aircraft, or aboard an unregistered ship or aircraft of the Government of any country, is deemed to have been born in the place in which the ship or aircraft was registered or, as the case may be, in the country whose Government owns that aircraft or ship. As such, your baby girl can only become a citizen of Tanzania, by birth, if you or your wife are a citizen of Tanzania by birth and you boarded a Tanzanian-registered aircraft.  Further, she can become a citizen of Tanzania by descent if you boarded a foreign registered aircraft and either of her parents is a citizen of Tanzania by birth. If you boarded a foreign-registered aircraft and neither of you is a citizen of Tanzania by birth, your baby girl cannot acquire Tanzanian citizenship either by birth or descent, except by naturalization. The next question in such an instance is what citizenship will your daughter acquire if that is the case? We do not have all the details to answer this additional question put forward by the QnA FB Attorneys team. You may wish to consult your lawyer for further guidance.

Procuring loan to address husband’s body shaming

I have been married for more than 20 years and my husband keeps telling me my body looks like a ‘baby elephant’, yet I have given birth to four children. To address the situation, I want to procure a loan using our matrimonial home for purposes of undergoing plastic surgery outside the county, so I can regain my ‘antelope body’. Kindly advise me.

AB, Mwanza

We are sorry to hear about your husband’s utterances, which seem quite unfair. It is noteworthy that under the laws of Tanzania, a wife’s contribution to the family properties is generally recognized and protected. These properties include matrimonial properties, including matrimonial home. In this regard, neither spouse can mortgage such properties without the consent of the other spouse. Therefore, you cannot legally secure a loan using the matrimonial home for plastic surgery without your husband’s consent, just as he cannot do so without your consent. We advise you to discuss this with your husband as his consent will be required. Whilst this is beyond the scope of a legal opinion, you may also want to consider reducing food intake, working out and getting counselling to regain your ‘antelope body’. We wish you all the best.

Compliance with mining local content

I am a recently appointed chief operations officer at a limited liability company which primarily provides services to mining companies in Tanzania. Our company is 80% foreign-owned. With the recent amendments to the Mining (Local Content) Regulations (the Regulations), I am seeking your legal advice if our company is still complaint; and if not, what should we do to remain compliant?

AT, Singida 

We are aware of the recent amendments to the Regulations. We should tell you from the outset that, the amendments are not free from questions. Generally, the Regulations require contractors, licensees and subcontractors to give preference to indigenous Tanzanian companies (ITCs) for goods and services. Prior to the amendments, the Regulations provided that a non-ITC that desired to provide services or goods to mining companies was required to incorporate a company in Tanzania; operate it in Tanzania; and provide goods and services through a joint venture (JV) with an ITC that should hold at least 20% in the JV. With the amendments, there seems to be a 180-degree turn. The amendments provide that a non-ITC that seeks to provide goods and services to the mining sector should establish a JV with an existing ITC that is 100% locally-owned and operates within the same line of business as the goods or services to be supplied, and such ITC should hold at least 20% of equity participation in the JV. However, the JV requirement does not apply where the goods or services to be provided are exclusively reserved for ITCs that are wholly owned by Tanzanians.

As noted above, these amendments leave a number of issues. First, the definition of an ITC as a company incorporated in Tanzania with at least 20% of its equity owned by Tanzanians is not amended. This implies that ITCs with 20%/80% shareholding structure are still compliant. Second, the fact that the amendments require non-ITCs to provide goods or services through JVs with 100% local ITCs implies that ITCs under 20%/80% shareholding are still allowed, only that they do not qualify for JV arrangements. Other than this interpretation, there was no need to qualify the ITC that should form a JV with a non-ITC. An amendment to the definition of an ITC would have sufficed. Better drafting would have certainly assisted in clearing the air and we advise you to directly contact the Mining Commission for more guidance.