The government has said it will not give work permits to foreigners without special technical skills unavailable in the country.
“Our youths need employment and we are not going to take away their opportunities,” Principal Secretary for the Interior and Co-ordination of National Government Mutea Iringo said on Thursday evening in Nakuru.
He was officially closing the ministry’s two-day retreat where he also said government will be strict in registering foreigners as citizens.
“The constitution clearly stipulates rules and regulations of registering persons of not Kenyan origin into the country’s citizenship. And they will be strictly observed,” he said.
Iringo added that no malpractices would be tolerated while offering immigration services.
The move comes as the authorities have intensified operations on drug traffickers and criminals in Kenya, with more than 20 foreigners deported over the offense in the past month alone.
Criminal Investigations Department Director Ndegwa Muhoro said recently majority of those deported are from West Africa, particularly Nigeria that recently engaged in diplomatic spat with Kenya over the deportation of the nationals.
Uniform Visa
Separately, five countries from southern Africa are expected to have uniform visa by December this year. According to The Times of Zambia, the five countries; Angola, Botswana, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe, who are members of Kavango-Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area (KAZA TFCA), potentially the world’s largest conservation area, have decided to have a uniform visa after a meeting was held in Angola recently.
“One of the things to note from the just-ended Angola meeting is that by Dec. 31, 2013, it is hoped that we shall have the common KAZA TFCA visa between five member countries,” Zambia’s Minister of Tourism and Arts Sylvia Masebo was quoted as saying by the paper on Friday.
Masebo said this would allow for free movement of people and goods and it would be a milestone for tourism promotion.-Xinhua
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