Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i has said foreigners who don’t have the required documentation to live and work in Kenya will be deported. Speaking to regional security heads on Friday at the Kenya School of Government, CS Matiang’i said around 60 foreigners have been deported for lacking the required documentation, some of them are senior hotel managers, “They’ve been walking around pretending they have papers, but when we looked around, we discovered they don’t,” he said.
The CS said immigration laws will be tougher and that from now no foreigner aspiring to work in Kenya will apply for a work permit while they are here, they’ll have to apply while they are still in their respective countries, “Only when that work permit has been processed will you be allowed to come to Kenya,” he said. He noted that the loose laws have been flouted in Kenya and many foreigners are now engaged in crime.
He said the work permit application process is the same in many other countries, except in Kenya, and no one can use the visitor’s pass. “That process has been abused and we have to clean up,” said Matiang’i. He said from now anyone arrested who’ll say they are waiting for their work permit will have to go back to their countries till the process has been finalized.
The Interior CS revealed that marriages are being used by foreigners to gain illegal entry and stay in Kenya. “Drug dealers have come to Nairobi and have confused our girls and are living with them. When police go to arrest them they say ‘I’m married to a Kenyan,'” he said, adding that a marriage must be proved by law. He said many drug dealers are operating outside Nairobi who use the aforementioned excuse.
He said one not only must have a certificate but if it’s less than three years old, a work permit is still needed. He pointed out that Kenyan girls are being used as ‘mules’ who carry drugs. He urged the security leaders to set up ‘barazas’ and teach the parents and guardians to take care of their children.