Rwandans who have lived in Kenya for 70 years appeal for naturalisation

Rwandan High Commissioner, Ambassador James Kimonyo

Grandparents and parents of an estimated 500 Rwandans were moved from Rwanda to Kenya by the British colonial administration in 1940’s to work mostly in tea plantations in Kericho County and other parts of Kenya.

 In 1945, those Rwandans were granted Kenyan citizenship and subsequently given Kenyan national identity cards, and later in 1975, these national identity cards were replaced by three-month renewable alien identification cards. This applied to other foreign nationalities that came under the same arrangement. Efforts to regain their citizen status has since then proved futile up to day.