Constitutional Court Says Central African Republic's Sango-Coin-for-Citizenship Scheme Is Illegal

A constitutional court in the Central African Republic has reportedly ruled that the Touadéra government’s offer of land and citizenship to buyers of the sango coin is unconstitutional. The court said the sango-coin-for-citizenship scheme must be stopped because the country’s “nationality has no market value.”

Offering Land and Minerals to Sango Coin Investors Ruled Unconstitutional

In a ruling likely to derail the Central African Republic (CAR)’s crypto ambitions, a constitutional court has ruled that the government’s plan to offer full citizenship to investors in its sango coin cryptocurrency is illegal. In addition, the court said the government’s offer of land and access to minerals such as gold to sango coin buyers is unconstitutional.

According to the court, the country’s “nationality has no market value,” hence President Faustin-Archange Touadéra’s government must stop promising citizenship to investors that buy sango coins worth $60,000.

Government Says It Respects Court’s Decision

Reacting to the ruling, a spokesman for the CAR presidency, Albert Yaloke Mokpeme, reportedly said the government will now look for other ways of rewarding sango coin holders with land and citizenship. He said:

We respect the court’s decision and we’re now looking at another way to offer land and citizenship to investors.

At the time of writing, President Touadéra, who has regularly tweeted about his government’s ambitions, has not issued a statement. On the other hand, the website tracking sango coin sales shows that there are over 194 million unsold coins more than a month after the token sale commenced.

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Terence Zimwara

Terence Zimwara is a Zimbabwe award-winning journalist, author and writer. He has written extensively about the economic troubles of some African countries as well as how digital currencies can provide Africans with an escape route.