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MUGWE: Benefits of flattened borders in Kenya is no-brainer

Diversity of thought through interaction with other cultures breeds creativity and drives innovation.

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by The Star

Siasa14 December 2023 - 15:33
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In Summary


  • To crystallise this, in 2022, Kenya received about 1.5 million tourists.
  • Going by this study, this number would increase to 4.5 million tourists through the visa liberalisation initiative.
President William Ruto speaks during Jamhuri Day celebrations on December 12, 2023. He announced that starting next year, there will be no visa requirements for anyone wishing to come to the country from anywhere in the world.

The First World War is often seen as a turning point in the history of migration policy. Prior to the war, country borders were largely open, and each emigrant could decide on the time of his departure, his arrival, or his return, to suit his own convenience. The movement of people as well as capital and traded goods was generally unhindered. But at the outbreak of the war, warring states of France, Germany, and Italy followed by Spain, Denmark, and Switzerland, made passports and visas mandatory.

Later in 1920, the first passport conference was held in Paris under the auspices of the League of Nations. This was the predecessor of today’s United Nations. In this conference, the Committee on Communication and Transit aimed to restore the pre-war regime of freedom of movement. This conference recognised that restrictions on freedom of movement affect personal relations between people of various countries and constitute a serious obstacle to the resumption of economic recovery of the world.

The delegates also observed that security concerns prevented the total abolition of restrictions and the complete return to pre-war conditions which the passport conference hoped to re-establish. As a compromise to facilitate freedom of movement, the delegates agreed to establish a uniform passport, abolish exit visas, and decrease the cost of entry visas.

During the recent celebrations to mark the nation’s sixtieth year of independence, President Ruto announced that starting next year, there will be no visa requirements for anyone wishing to come to the country from anywhere in the world.

They would only need a valid passport or other travel document for verification, then register themselves on an electronic platform prior to flying into the country to be granted an Electronic Travel Authorisation at a $30 fee.

Most countries require foreigners to obtain a travel visa to visit their countries. The rationale for this requirement is to prevent unauthorised immigrants, terrorists, and other foreign-originated threats from coming into their country disguised as tourists.

However, these requirements also impose a substantial unseen cost on those nation’s economy by severely inhibiting economic growth in sectors such as tourism and non-traded services.

The visa process for most tourists is unnecessarily arduous. One must fill out online and, in some cases, hard paper applications and pay visa application fees; travel to go for interviews, which typically take place at embassies or consulates, thus increasing the administrative burden of those employees. The visas could take a couple of days to weeks to process.

This causes delays and to make matters worse, consular officials can stop the process at any moment and deny the applicants the visa without a refund of the fees paid. Other requirements include the serpentine path potential tourists must follow such as proving nonimmigrant intent or providing documented proof of property ownership to demonstrate their intent to return to their countries of origin.

I submit that enhancing the mobility of other nationals into the country through the visa liberalisation initiative for short stay visits in a secure and well-managed environment will have both direct and indirect benefits.

For one, it will see a boost on the tourism sector from the number of visitors on short term travel, which will correspond to an increase in tourist spending on fees collected in tourist sites, in purchasing souvenirs, in accommodation including Airbnb’s, in transportation, and overall in employee hire and retention in the sector.

A study in 2013 on Travel Visas by Robert Lawson and Jayme Lemke on 188 countries revealed that the imposition of tourist visas on a source country by a destination country decreased the quantity of tourists by about 70 percent. Conversely, this projection implied a nearly three-fold increase in tourist travel if the travel visa requirement was removed.

To crystallise this, in 2022, Kenya received about 1.5 million tourists. Going by this study, this number would increase to 4.5 million tourists through the visa liberalisation initiative.

Tourism is the economic equivalent of exports. When foreign travellers spend their money in Kenya, it is no different than when they reside in a foreign country and buy Kenyan produced goods. So just as export restrictions are economically destructive, tourist visa policies that raise the cost of traveling to Kenya, prevent wealth-maximising international economic exchanges from occurring to the detriment of our economy.

Secondly, it will provide opportunities for other nationals to explore employment and entrepreneurial opportunities. In this regard, it is easy to see why critics have faulted this visa liberalisation initiative and their argument against a visa free Kenya.

This is because we have seen in countries where xenophobia is rife the violence between the citizens and the immigrants increases because if an immigrant fills a job, that job Is not available for the citizens.

However, this logic relies on a zero-sum fallacy because by simply filling a position is not that immigrant’s only impact on the economy. This is especially so in the case of highly skilled entrepreneurs and innovators. They add human capital to the overall economy and increase the nation’s total productive capability. This drives economic growth, and as the economy expands overall new jobs are created as enterprises meet rising overall production.

Another study done in 2015 by Indiana University, Judd Leighton School of Business and Economics, and University of Virginia, Department of Economics, debunks this zero-sum fallacy. The study found that on average, each additional immigrant results in 1.2 jobs created in the overall economy due to the increase in consumer demand for local non-traded services created by immigrants.

You see, free immigration not only affects labor supply but also labor demands. Immigrants do not only serve as additional workers, but they also serve as additional consumers, and as a result can provide a boost for the labor market by increasing demand for goods and services for instance in rental housing, transportation, in grooming such as barbers and salons, and in retail including supermarkets and mama mboga hustles. Through this demand, raise for local non-tradables sector wages and incomes rise.

Thirdly, a visa liberalisation policy is likely to attract reciprocity. This means that other countries are likely not to demand visas from Kenyans, and this would open pathways for many Kenyans to travel to those countries without the immigration bureaucracy created by visa restrictions.

Finally, my unsolicited advice is to the critics of this visa liberalisation initiative. You cannot discuss the ocean with a well frog. He’s limited by the space he lives in. Likewise, diversity of thought through interaction with other cultures breeds creativity and drives innovation, which helps us to solve problems and meet needs in new and exciting ways.

Do you know what a foreign accent is? It’s a sign of bravery - Amy Chua

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