A new study of visa-friendliness by the African Development Bank (AfDB) and the African Union Commission (AUC) shows that it has been much harder for citizens of other African countries to enter Kenya this year than it was in 2021.
The 2022 Africa Visa Openness Index (AVOI), which measures how easy it is for Africans to enter one of the 54 countries on the continent covered in the study, puts Kenya at position 31 – three places worse off its ranking the previous year.
The drop in the visa-friendliness ranking is largely attributed to the travel restrictions imposed in 2020 to curb the spread of Covid-19, which reversed the implementation of the visa-on-arrival for all Africans policy introduced by former President Uhuru Kenyatta in 2018.
The visa-on-arrival policy opened the door for more businesspeople and holidaymakers from the rest of Africa to visit Kenya.
President William Ruto has sent signals about his intention to aggressively pursue investment and trade with other African countries, overseeing a recent agreement that will see Kenyan citizens travel to South Africa visa-free for up to 90 days in a calendar year.
He has also reaffirmed Kenya’s commitment to the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), which seeks to create a single market of over a billion consumers with a total GDP of over $3 trillion.
But the government needs to demonstrate this commitment by removing barriers to intra-African trade and investment such as the pandemic-era visa rules that make it difficult for citizens of other African countries to enter Kenya.
With the pandemic having significantly receded, the government should review these immigration rules to make Kenya more visa-friendly.
PAYE Tax Calculator
Note: The results are not exact but very close to the actual.
