The Department of Immigration and Emigration may likely have to comply with a request to release information pertaining to Parliamentarians' dual citizenship status to the People’s Action for Free and Fair Elections (PAFFREL) by the end of this month (April), The Daily Morning learned.

This is following the directives issued to the Department by the Right to Information Commission (RTI).

The Department had recently informed the Right to Information (RTI) Commission that it was unable to provide accurate information on MPs’ dual citizenship status merely by entering certain names in English into the computerised data system owing to likely spelling errors and the possibility of several persons sharing the same name.

When contacted by The Daily Morning to inquire about the progress of the PAFFREL's appeal, its Executive Director Rohana Hettiarachchi said that the Department had stated that the relevant information could be released if they (PAFFREL) could provide the Department with full names, birthdays, parents' names and national identity card (NIC) numbers of all 225 MPs.

"Now we are working on finding that information, and are hopeful that we will be able to find it. In order to find the information, we are approaching different parties, both directly and indirectly." he said. When queried as to when they would be able to provide the Department with the required information, he said: "We will be able to find the information by the end of this month. The Department will have to release the information by then."

Hettiarachchi said that the RTI Commission had also directed the Immigration and Emigration Department to release the relevant information. "The Department had initially refused to release the said information in terms of Section 5(1) (a) of the RTI Act on the grounds that it was personal and private information. However, the RTI Commission stated that the information we have requested is of public interest," he said.

In December 2022, PAFFREL had made an RTI appeal to the RTI Commission, seeking to identify MPs who possess dual citizenship. The appeal had been filed by PAFFREL as the Department had refused the initial request which it (PAFFREL) had made seeking the relevant information. The Department had initially refused the provision of information in terms of Section 5(1)(a) of the RTI Act No 12 of 2016 on the grounds that it was personal and private information.