• Article 15(1) of the Constitution grants foreigners married to Kenyan citizens for seven years and above to register for citizenship.
• But Section 11 of the Citizenship and Immigration Act says foreigners married to Kenyans must have residency status in Kenya in order to be registered for citizenship.
Image: HESBORN ETYANG
A lobby group has moved to court seeking to have refugees married to Kenyans granted citizenship.
The petition filed by Haki na Sheria Initiative in a Garissa court raises questions about the legal and administrative hurdles presented by the Citizen and Immigration Act in the registration of refugees for citizenship by marriage as stipulated by the Constitution.
"Because they are fleeing violence, refugees are not able to enter Kenya in the same way and be registered in the same way as other foreign nationals," Haki na Sheria Initiative programme manager Haretha Bulle said.
"Yet the government specifically requires refugees who are spouses of Kenyan citizens to provide documents that are not ordinarily available to refugees in violation of the Constitution," he added.
Article 15(1) of the Constitution grants foreigners married to Kenyan citizens for seven years and above to register for citizenship.
But Section 11 of the Citizenship and Immigration Act says foreigners married to Kenyans must have residency status in Kenya in order to be registered for citizenship.
Upon arrival in Kenya, refugees undergo a status determination process by the UN Refugee Agency, UNHCR and the Refugee Affairs Secretariat but they are not given residency status documents like other foreign nationals.
The lobby group says in its petition that this amounts to discrimination and wants the court to order the removal of the administrative barriers.
"By denying refugee spouses of Kenyan citizens the option to even apply for citizenship, the government is denying them the right to a family life in Kenya," Bulle said.
The petition follows a similar one filed in November 2022 which sought to have children born to a Kenyan parent and a refugee recognised as Kenyan citizens.
Currently, a child born to a Kenyan father but a refugee mother is given a birth notification that bears a refugee agency stamp and a certificate of birth that bears the words “refugee.”
The court is yet to make a determination on the petition.
Haki na Sheria Initiative argued that all children arising from such unions are Kenyan by birth and are entitled to all rights and benefits granted by the law.
"The practice of denying citizenship to these children has a devastating impact on family life for refugees and Kenyan nationals," Bulle said.
Kenya is currently home to over 500,000 refugees mostly from Somalia, South Sudan and Ethiopia who live in camps and urban centres across the country.
In 2022, Haki na Sheria Initiative successfully petitioned the government to issue national identity cards to about 14,000 Kenyans who had been wrongly registered as refugees.
However, the lobby group said over 40,000 Kenyans are still listed on the refugee database and continue to be denied their rights as Kenyan citizens.