‘Mantoetse Maama
MASERU — Thirty-two foreign nationals were sworn-in as Lesotho citizens at the Police Training College hall on Thursday. The new citizens include doctors, teachers and business owners. They are from Ghana, Uganda, Zambia, Nigeria, Portugal, India, China, Bangladesh and Taiwan. Home Affairs Minister Joang Molapo said the new citizens should consider themselves fortunate because there are many other foreign nationals who have applied for Lesotho citizenship.
He said he hoped the new citizens will continue to respect the laws of Lesotho and contribute to the economic development of the country.
“You have presented yourself as law-abiding citizens and I hope you will continue to demonstrate this character while bringing skills for us,” Molapo said. Lesotho, Molapo said, is a country built on immigrants. Molapo said the new citizens should continue to bring social and cultural diversity to Lesotho. The minister was however quick to point out that there were foreign nationals who seek Lesotho citizenship for ulterior motives. “Others acquire Lesotho citizenship to use it as an opportunity to reside in other countries,” Molapo said. Speaking on behalf of the newly sworn-in citizens, Manohar Mathew, said they were grateful to have been granted the opportunity “to become Lesotho citizens”.
“We have been waiting for so long to get the citizenship, others have waited for five years while for others it’s been more than 10 years,” he said. Mathew came to Lesotho from India in 1991.
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