Uganda’s Minister for East African Community Affairs Rebecca Kadaga has urged Ugandans living and doing business in Kenya to regularise their stay and obtain the necessary permits and licences.
Kadaga said President William Ruto’s directive concerning foreign nationals operating businesses should not be interpreted as an order for them to leave Kenya, but as a requirement for them to formalise their stay and business activities.
“I don’t want this matter to be understood as an expulsion of non-Kenyans. It’s a directive to register and regularise their stay,” Kadaga said.
Ruto recently directed action against foreigners operating businesses reserved for Kenyans, including small-scale trade and hawking, saying local traders should be protected from unfair competition.
The government subsequently announced a 90-day period for foreign nationals conducting businesses in Kenya to regularise their immigration status, work permits, business registration and licensing before enforcement measures are taken against those operating outside the requirements.
Kadaga encouraged Ugandans living or conducting business in Kenya to use the regularisation process and obtain the documents required under Kenyan regulations.
She said she was in contact with the Uganda High Commission in Nairobi and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to follow up on the situation and establish what further action may be required.
Kadaga also urged foreign traders to formalise their businesses by obtaining the necessary licences, maintaining bank accounts and having identifiable addresses.
“You don’t just walk in and say, ‘I’m taking this land here.’ You should apply and inform the partner that I’m coming to stay in your country, I’m so-and-so, and I’m coming to do ABCD here, so that they know where you are,” she said.
She said the EAC Common Market Protocol allows citizens of partner states to move and work in other member countries, but stressed that this should be done through the proper channels.
“We are not yet a federation, so we still have sovereign obligations and sovereign rights. The protocol allows people to move and work in different partner states, but I think you need to do it through the proper means,” she said.
Kadaga said regularising their status would enable East Africans living and working in other partner states to operate formally and receive protection under the law.
