Enable All Kenyans with Foreign Citizenship to Automatically Regain Kenya Citizenship.

Enable All Kenyans with Foreign Citizenship to Automatically Regain Kenya Citizenship.

Started
November 9, 2021
Petition to
President of Kenya William S. Ruto, the Speaker of the National Assembly, the Speaker of the Senate.
Signatures: 1,559Next Goal: 2,500
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Why this petition matters

Started by mwaura mwembu

Petition to the Government of the Republic of Kenya to Automatically Enable All Kenyans with Citizenships of Other Nations to Regain their Kenyan Citizenship

By:  Paddy Mwembu, Los Angeles, California 

The Diaspora community hereby petitions the Government of the Republic of Kenya to immediately suspend, pending amendment or nullification, Section 10 of the Citizenship and Immigration Act, 2011 that requires Kenyans who acquired citizenship of other countries before 2010 to be regarded as foreigners. The same section of the constitution, to the contrary, provides automatic dual citizenship to those who acquired foreign citizenship after 2010. This double standard is discriminatory, unwarranted, and unfair as it classifies the Kenya Diaspora into two distinct categories. It applies two separate mirrors to the same group of Kenyans, and this essentially marginalizes one group while granting the other group special dual citizen privileges. This is not fair.

This petition is requesting the Government of Kenya of the Republic of Kenya (President of Kenya William S. Ruto, the Speaker of the National Assembly, the Speaker of the Senate, the Cabinet Secretary of Immigration, and the Director General at the Directorate of Immigration and Citizen Services) to ensure the entire Kenya Diaspora is viewed through a single mirror. It seeks harmonization of all Kenyans in Diaspora into a single group of dual citizens regardless of the year that one attained foreign citizenship. The change we in the Diaspora are requesting for will derive valuable benefits to Kenya and the Kenyans in Diaspora.

Diaspora - Who and What Are We?

Even though we live and work abroad, we are Kenyans by birth; we are Wakenya halisi; we speak our mother tongue; we speak the national language (Kiswahili); we uphold our traditional norms and values; we remit billions of dollars each year to support the Kenyan economy; we are heavily invested in Kenya; we pay taxes to the Kenya Revenue Authority; we support the welfare of our loved ones at home; and we are a core pillar to the economic growth of the nation. Despite all these qualities, our motherland nation of Kenya treats a section of us as second-class citizens only because, we acquired foreign citizenship before 2010. Sadly, and due to our natural origins, our host nations sees us as a breed that is different from their own; they treat us in a way that suggests we do not fully belong. As an example, in the United States of America, you are prohibited from running for President unless you are an American by birth. The children we have sired in the US can become a President, but we the parents cannot. The question to the Kenya government then is:  Who and what are we and where do we (the Kenya Diaspora) belong?

Evidently, the 2010 constitution has complicated the lives of those Kenyans in Diaspora who attained foreign citizenship before 2010. The backbone of this complexity is Section 10 of the Citizenship and Immigration Act, 2011 which enacted the law that gives the immigration department the power to group the Kenya Diaspora into two separate baskets ([1] the Before 2010 Diaspora and [2] the After 2010 Diaspora). This section of the law enabled the Director General at the Directorate of Immigration and Citizenship Services to unequally and discriminatively treat those in the before 2010 basket differently by denying them dual citizenship.

The natural birth rights of every Kenyan in Diaspora should adequately protect and guarantee the rights by birth dominate any other classification.  It is also important for the government of Kenya to take into consideration that taking citizenship of another country was not an easy decision but a path to survival for the many. In most cases, it is difficult to build wealth if you are an alien.  You are more privileged as a citizen.

The Wealthy Before 2010 Diaspora

Ironically, the Before 2010 Diaspora holds enormous wealth. This group comprises older Kenyans who are approaching or have attained retirement age; aspiration is to spend their retirement in the homeland. Over the last few years, the Before 2010 Diaspora has been consistently shifting its wealth to Kenya in job creating investments especially in the real estate sector. This transfer of wealth has boosted the economic growth of Kenya and enormously contributed to employment.

In addition, the money remitted to Kenya mainly by the Before 2010 Diaspora remains the largest foreign exchange earner for the country. Despite this, the Before 2010 Diaspora has been and continues to be treated like the stepchild when it comes to dual citizenship. Factually and based on data from the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK),  the cumulative inflows for the 12 months to September 2023 totaled $4.142 billion or Sh,650.3 billion compared to $4.001 billion or Sh.628.2 billion in the same period in 2022. This translates to a 3.5% increase year-over-year.  Notably, July 2023 recorded the highest ever amount sent back home by Kenyans when inflows hit $378.1 million or Sh.59.4 billion.  These remittances excludes substantial amounts sent to Kenya through non-formal channels such as friends, et cetera.  Undoubtedly, the Diaspora is a core pillar within the economy of the Republic of Kenya and the Diaspora is entitled to a specialized attention.

Discrimination through the Constitution

As Kenyans living and working abroad, we consider Section 10 of the Citizenship and Immigration Act, 2011 as selfish, punitive, faulty, and devoid. It unfairly favors one Diaspora group while imposing undue hardships with reaching consequences to the other. One can only conclude that Diaspora representation was lacking, absent, missing and/or ineffective during negotiations of the 2010 constitution. In the view of Diaspora, this lack of representation is what helped deliver a half-hearted section of the Constitution that marginalizes and discriminates against a large section.

Since the Constitution is a living and dynamic document, time is now ripe for the Kenya legislature to amend this section of the law and make it right. Laws change with the times; that time has now.

Aspect of Equality

For one to regain the citizenship of Kenya, “Section 10 of the Kenya Citizenship and Immigration Act, 2011: – provides that a citizen by birth and who ceased to be a citizen of Kenya because he or she acquired the citizenship of another country may apply in prescribed manner to the cabinet secretary to regain Kenya Citizenship.” For the application to be processed, you must meet the following requirements and pay an application fee of Kshs.5,000.

1. Duly completed application Form 1

2. 2 passport size photographs

3. Copies of Kenyan ID and Passport

4. Copy of the other country’s passport

5. Copy of the other country's naturalization certificate.

6. Copy of birth certificate

The negotiators of the constitution endorsed the above requirements and allowed the immigration department to impose them on the Before 2010 Diaspora. Yes, it is the law but why create a wedge between the same people?

The Diaspora does not Renounced Kenya Citizenship

The process of acquiring foreign citizenship does not require the beneficiaries to renounce the citizenship of their countries of birth. The natural country of birth citizenship is not disrupted during the naturalization process. That is why, as Diaspora, we identify ourselves as Kenyan Americans, Kenyan Australians, et cetera and not the reverse. This identifier is not accidental; it is a way of letting others know we are Kenyans first. Since we do not renounce, it is therefore, the government of Kenya which at its own accord, strips the before 2010 Diaspora of natural citizenship.

We are all Kenyans and we want to be seen that way under the law.

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Signatures: 1,559Next Goal: 2,500
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Decision Makers

  • President of Kenya William S. Ruto, the Speaker of the National Assembly, the Speaker of the Senate.