Kenya passport ranked 7th powerful in Africa

New East African Community passport.

The Kenyan passport is the seventh most powerful in Africa with its citizens able to visit 72 out of 104 countries without a visa.

Kenya, which ties with Swaziland in the continent, falls behind Seychelles, Mauritius, South Africa, Botswana, Namibia and Lesotho in that order in the report by Henley Passport Index.

Globally, Kenya and Eswatini (formerly Swaziland) emerged joint 69th with Seychelles top in Africa and 28th in the world, Mauritius 31 worldwide, South Africa 51, Botswana 60 and Namibia 66 and Lesotho 67.

In East Africa, Kenya tops followed closely by Tanzania whose citizens can travel to 68 countries, Uganda (64 countries), Rwanda (54), Burundi (47) and South Sudan (41) visa-free. 

Somali is the least powerful passport having emerged 103rd in the world and the last in Africa.

The report shows that Japan now shares the accolade of the world's most powerful passport with Singapore and South Korea.

The ranking is based on data from the International Air Transport Association.