Immigration desk at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi. PHOTO | NMG
Experts have called for caution in effecting a directive by
President Uhuru Kenyatta to issue Africans wishing to visit Kenya with a
visa on arrival, saying it can only be enacted in accordance with the
law and after changes are made in the security system.
According
to Justice John Ruhangisa of the High Court of Tanzania, if the Kenyan
immigration laws conflict the statement, then it will be hard to
implement the directive.
“The directive can only be
effected if the Kenyan immigration laws give such provision or if they
are amended to cater for that,” said Justice Ruhangisa.
Justice
Ruhangisa however added that Kenya under the EAC treaty has the right
to make decisions on matters that other partner states are not part of
without expecting reciprocity from them.
“The EAC
Treaty allows for variant geometry where one partner state if ready can
fast track and implement and issue ahead of the others. Rwanda has
already done that and Kenya has followed suits. The other countries
could choose to do the same,” he said, adding that Kenya and Rwanda
under the "coalition of the willing" are implementing what the three
countries including Uganda agreed to fast track ahead of the other EAC
partner states.
Security
The director of
African Centre for Security & Strategic Studies Simiyu Werunga, said
the directive cannot be implemented without serious security changes
especially on data systems. Data systems will have to be boosted to the
capacity where they are able to store and retrieve enough data over
along time.
“Currently our systems are not solid enough
and they do not have the capacity to store and retrieve enough data for
over a period of time,” said Dr Werunga. “Also to implement this there
is a need to have honest and trustworthy people at the entry points or
else illegal goods and people will gain entry into the country.”
In
his inauguration speech for his second term on November 28, President
Uhuru Kenyatta said Africans wishing to visit Kenya will be eligible to
receive a visa on arrival. He further said that citizens from the East
African Community will only need a national identification card to
travel, work, do business, own property, farm and even marry and settle
in Kenya.
The
President said the new measures will boost trade and security, increase
appreciation for African diversity and reduce negative politics on the
continent.
“I will work with you, leaders of the East
African Community, to bring a renewed energy and optimism to our union.
Together, we can deliver the peace and prosperity for which our citizens
are crying out; divided, we will struggle to realise the full potential
of our people,” he said.
African passport
Seychelles
requires no visa for any African country, and Namibia, Ghana, Rwanda,
Mauritius, Nigeria, and Benin have all adopted this no visa policy over
the past two years.
The African Union also launched a continental passport last year as part of its move to encourage open borders.
The
Central African Economic and Monetary Community also reached a key
milestone agreement recently, making travel within the six-member
regional block, comprising Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Central African
Republic, Congo-Brazzaville, Gabon and Chad, visa-free and integration
of central Africa a reality.
The African Union’s
transformation agenda 2063 contains plans for a common visa policy with
three primary components -visa-on-arrival for all African nationals,
mandatory granting of a minimum 30-day visa for African citizens
visiting any African country by 2018, and the ambitious goal of a
single, continental passport by 2020.
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The
chairperson of the African Union Commission, Moussa Faki on his Twitter
handle said he was delighted by President Kenyatta’s announcement.
“Congratulations
on this historic decision! I urge all African states that have not yet
done so, to take similar measures towards free movement for all Africans
across Africa,” Mr Faki tweeted.
Makerere university
political history professor, Mwambutsya Ndebesa said although visa-free
travel within Africa could potentially reduce emigration, reduced visa
restrictions will necessitate advances in electronic border management
systems and improved interoperability of security architecture.
This
will address the increased risks of illegal goods, cross-border
terrorism, the issue of stateless individuals, trafficking and
cross-border crime which Kenya will need to have in place before it can
implement the directive.
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