National Assembly’s Committee on Implementation has ordered an audit of all serving ambassadors and high commissioners to ascertain whether any of them holds dual citizenship.
The Moitalel ole Kenta-led committee made the order when it emerged that President Uhuru Kenyatta’s nominee for the position of Kenya’s ambassador to South Korea Mwende Mwinzi had not renounced her US citizenship.
This was despite the conditional approval by the Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee, which indicated that Mwinzi had to renounce her US nationality were she to take up the job. She went to court intead.
Foreign Affairs CS Monica Juma will submit the findings of the process to Parliament within 60 days of adopting the report.
The Committee on Implementation report is yet to be debated and approved by Parliament, despite calls that the House reviews laws regarding dual citizenship.
“Review the existing legislation to expressly provide for ambassadors and high commissioners as state officers,” Kenta said in his report.
It notes that although no ambassador from the Mwinzi’s cohort has been posted, they trained and are awaiting ‘no objection’ reports – if any, from the receiving countries.
However, The Brief has established that South Korea has already approved Mwinzi, having granted her Agrément on August 6. This is a specialized term in diplomacy that refers to the agreement by a state to receive members of a diplomatic mission from a foreign state.
The MPs also recommended that Mwinzi’s approval be rescinded.
