NAIROBI – The Permanent residence fees for children of Kenyan citizens announced in a gazette notice by Interior and National Coordination CS Prof Kithure Kindiki were entered in error, Diaspora Affairs PS Roseline Njogu has said.
Through a post on X, PS Njogu said she had engaged Immigration and Citizen Services Principal Secretary Prof Julius Bitok, who said the entry was done erroneously and measures to rectify the Gazette notice have already been taken.
“This fee applies to children of foreigners seeking permanent residence. As I had explained, children of a citizen acquire citizenship by birth. Apologies for the mistake that has caused so much anxiety,” Njogu said.
She noted that as per the Constitution, a child whose mother or father is a Kenyan Citizen, is a citizen by birth.
“They do not need to apply for permanent residency. They can acquire the usual citizenship documents (ID, passport, etc) by applying through the nearest Kenya Embassy or via eCitizen,” the PS said.
The Gazette notice announcing increase and introduction of levies offered under the State Department of Immigration and Citizen Services has caused an uproar on social media, coming at a time Kenyans are struggling with the cost of living.
This is among the increasingly reckless mistakes officials in the Kenya Kwanza Administration have made.
For instance, in the Executive Order 2, 2023 released on November 2, President William Ruto downgraded Kenya’s Embassy to Indonesia to a consulate, only for some senior diplomats at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to say it was a mistake .
The President in the Executive Order listed the mission to Jakarta as a consulate headed by a consulate general, despite Ambassador Galma Boru having been posted in November 2022, and just months after Indonesia President Joko Widodo made a state visit to Kenya in August, when the two sides signed various deals.
In the early days of Ruto’s administration, his communication officials President William Ruto’s communication team almost overturned a decades-long foreign position on the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic through a tweet.
President Ruto @WilliamSRuto tweeted that Kenya would no longer recognise the SADR, the portion of Western Sahara ruled by the Polisario Front exiled in neighbouring Algeria, a that territory has been contested by Morocco since 1975, even though the SADR is a member of the African Union.
“Kenya rescinds its recognition of the SADR and initiates steps to wind down the entity’s presence in the country,” Ruto said, even though he had earlier met with Sahrawi President Brahim Ghali, who had attended his inauguration.
