Visas to visit Kenya are to be abolished for other African nationals from next year, as part of a move to open up trade and travel within the continent.
“By the end of this year, no African will need a visa to come to Kenya,” Kenya’s President William Ruto told a climate change conference in Congo-Brazzaville.
Costly and time-consuming visa requirements, as well as high airfares, have long been barriers to inter-African travel for African passport holders; 32 out of 54 African countries still require citizens of half or more of the continent’s countries to obtain a visa.
“Our children from this continent should not be trapped by borders in Europe, nor by borders in Africa,” said Ruto.
Kenya will be the fourth African country to make the change and offer unrestricted travel to Africans after Gambia, Benin and Seychelles. Seychelles, an East African island nation that relies heavily on tourism, was the first to do so in 2016.
Ruto said the removal of barriers was necessary to facilitate the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area. “It is time we realised the importance of trading with each other and allowing goods, services, people and ideas to move freely across the continent,” he said.
The African Union has in recent years redoubled its calls for more African countries to remove travel barriers. It launched an “AU passport” in 2016 to allow Africans to travel freely within the continent. However, the roll-out has been limited and the passports are mainly used by diplomats and senior officials.
African countries have been slow to make changes due to concerns about crime and security. However, most countries have simplified entry procedures, according to the 2022 Africa Visa Openness report. The majority of African countries offer visa-free travel to at least five other countries, with greater freedom to travel within regional blocs. The number of countries offering e-visas has also more than doubled since 2016.
Kenya’s announcement has received a positive response from Africans online, who hope other countries will follow suit. “This is a move that all presidents on the continent need to get behind,” said one social media user. “Free movement within the continent should be a priority.”
