Njenga Hakeenah
For Kenyans to travel to South Africa, they were required to pay US$40 for the visa while they also had to provide proof they had sufficient funds and had booked return flight tickets.
Kenya and South Africa, some of the two strongest economies
on the African continent, have agreed to reduce barriers to cross-border
movement by allowing visa free travel between them.
The pact agreed upon by Kenya's President William Ruto and
his South African counterpart on November 9, 2022, will resolve a long-standing
visa dispute between the two countries. With the formalisation, Kenyans will,
from January 2023, be eligible for visa free travel to South Africa for up to
three months (90 days) in a calendar year.
Already, South Africans get free visas on arrival in the
East African nation, a gesture Kenyans have wanted to be reciprocated for a
long time. For Kenyans travelling to South Africa, they were required to pay
US$40 for the visa while they also had to provide proof they had sufficient
funds and had booked return flight tickets.
The Kenya and South Africa visa deal will take effect on
January 1, kicking off the visa free travel arrangement.
At the time of the announcement, South African President
Cyril Ramaphosa was in Kenya for his first official trip to the country at the
invitation of President Ruto.
Ramaphosa said they discussed the visas issue between Kenya
and South Africa to allow Kenyans to visit the Southern African nation
visa-free basis.
"This will officially start on January 1, 2023, and it
will be available to Kenyans for a 90-day period per year," he said.
In addition, the Kenyan and South African leaders directed
their respective trade ministers to work on removing barriers limiting trade
between the two African countries. The two countries are also working to
address trade barriers to increase business and trade cooperation which will
now be easier with visa free travel.Following a meeting between Presidents Ruto
and Ramaphosa, they said that Kenya and South Africa will deal with non-tariff
barriers like the bureaucracy in licensing, regulation restrictions and
sanctions which will allow the opening up for business in industries, export of
agricultural produce and logistics.
The two leaders signed four instruments, and the removal of
the trade barriers agreement was part of this to foster cooperation.
President Ruto said that with his counterpart they agreed to
develop a sustainable mechanism for the identification, monitoring and resolution
of non-trade barriers that limit trade potential between Kenya and South
Africa.
Additionally, three memoranda of understanding between Kenya
and South Africa were signed and a cooperation of correctional sciences
agreement was inked on housing and human settlement and cooperation between the
Kenya School of Government and the South African National School of Governments
on audio-visual co-production.
The decision to allow Kenyans visa-free travel to South
Africa could boost Kenya's passport which was ranked among the favourite
passports in Africa in July by the Henley Passport Index Report.
Kenya was ranked 76th globally, having improved by one point
from 77th last year.
The Henley Passport Index mobility score stood at 72. The
score measures the number of countries a passport holder from a certain nation
can travel to without a visa.
In Africa, the Kenyan passport was ranked the most powerful
after Seychelles, Mauritius, South Africa, Botswana, eSwatini, Malawi and
Lesotho.
Even as Kenya and South Africa relax their visa
requirements, Africans continue harbouring hope that there will be an African
Passport for every African to enable visa free travel on the continent.
An African passport would be instrumental in relaxing travel
restrictions and breaking barriers in mobility and intra-African trade.
The African passport is a flagship project of the African
Union (AU)'s Agenda 2063, which envisions an integrated continent that is
politically united and based on the ideals of Pan-Africanism with the vision of
Africa's Renaissance.An African passport would help collapse both physical and
invisible barriers that have thwarted and limited the integration of the
African people. It would be a key component of the African Continental Free
Trade Area (AfCFTA) which could immensely benefit from visa free travel.
To test the systems, the AU unified African passport was
launched in July 2016 at the 27th Ordinary session of the AU held in Kigali,
Rwanda. It was scheduled to be availed to Africans by 2020, but with the
pandemic, the plans seem to have been shelved.
Currently, only AU officials, diplomats and government
leaders have been issued the passport, which holds the potential to bring down
Africa's physical barriers to visa free travel.
On successful launch, the African passport will become a
common document that will replace the nationally issued AU member states'
passports. It will exempt bearers from having to obtain any visas for all 55
African states easing visa free travel.
Just like it has been happening with nationally issued
documents, the three types of AU passports to be issued will include the
Ordinary Passport, which is 32 pages and valid for five years. This document
will be issued to citizens intended for occasional travel like business trips
and vacations making visa free travel a reality.
Government institutions with officials travelling on
official business will be issued the official or Service passport will be
issued to officials attached to.
At the same time, the two leaders hailed Ethiopia's peace
agreement signed last week brokered by the African Union in South Africa.
Ruto and Ramaphosa appealed to the Ethiopian parties to
fully implement the agreement for a lasting political settlement.
0 comments:
Post a Comment