Ambassador to the Republic of Korea nominee Mwende Mwinzi has challenged Parliament's decision compelling her to renounce her American citizenship before taking office.
According to Mwinzi, even if the laws were to apply to her, she was exempted by virtue of Article 78(3) of the Constitution as she was born in the US and such cannot renounce her citizenship.
“The petitioner's US citizenship was acquired by birth and as such her citizenship or the process of opting in was a consequence of circumstances out of her control.
“She did not participate in the decision to be born in the US and she cannot opt out of that decision” reads court papers
Mwinzi was appointed by President Uhuru Kenyatta on May 2 as the ambassador to Korea.
She says in court documents that she acknowledged and accepted the appointment and complied with all its requirements.
Through her lawyer Tom Ojienda, Mwinzi says she successfully went through the vetting process by the Nationally Assembly Committee on Defence and Foreign Relations but noted that she had dual citizenship.
She wants the court to order Foreign Affairs CS Monica Juma to post her as Kenya’s ambassador to Korea pending the hearing of her case.
“The committee recommended that she be appointed on condition that she renounces her US Citizenship,” the petition reads.
However, she argues that the recommendation by the committee was unconstitutional because the position of Ambassador is not a state office.
She says she was born in Milwaukee USA in 1971 and by virtue of the American laws became an American citizen by birth.
He mum was an American citizen while her dad was a Kenyan.
She lived and worked in the US for over two decades and later returned to Kenya.
She was the assistant Vice Present at a Wall Street investment bank where she resigned in 2005 to focus on her NGO.
She says she contested in the 2017 general election on a Jubilee ticket for the Mwingi Central Parliamentary seat and she was cleared to contest by IEBC.
She argues that those she was appointed with have already taken up their positions but she is yet to be posted in violation of her fundamental rights.
She also says that if the court does not intervene in the case, she risks losing her posting as ambassador to Korea.
