The Orator of this year's National Independence Day Celebration has taken exception to a propose bill before the National Legislature seeking to grant dual citizenship to Liberians in the Diaspora.   Catholic Prelate Robert Tikpor wondered what the rational of the bill is all about when Liberians in the Diaspora are already part of the country and when the constitution of the country has said that only people of Negro decent can be citizens of the country.

In his National Oration delivered on Monday in observance of the country's 163rd Independence anniversary, the cleric said he wants the constitution of the country follow meticulously by not granting dual citizenship according to the laws of the country. He said Liberians who are opting for dual citizenship status, would not be expelled because they are certainly a part of the country, but the constitution must be respected.

He said for all Liberians to have peace, the constitution knew that the country belongs to all people of the negro race and must be given back to them, stressing that in his view, that race (negro race) has been cheated, humiliated and persecuted. Father Tikpor's latest comments on the issue of dual citizenship comes just at a time when the Liberian Senate has begun hearing into the bill, which is reported to have the support of a large number of Liberians based especially in the United States and in Europe.

Since the proposed bill was submitted, reaction over its passage has been mixed with some Liberians in and out of the country expressing their overwhelming support for the bill, while others have registered their opposition. President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, who attentively listened to Father Tikpor when he delivered his national oration, has expressed her support for the bill to be passed into law granting dual citizenship to Liberians in the Diaspora.