Relief For African Traders As Kenya Announces Plans To Scrap Visa Fees

By Samuel Ouma

Kenya has announced plans to eliminate visa fees for African traders visiting the nation on business.

The announcement was made by President William Ruto during a forum on African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) in Nairobi.

At the same time, Ruto apologised to the attendees from the business and public sectors for the visa requirements.

“My minister for Trade Moses Kuria has informed me that somehow some of our officials made you pay visas to come home and asked me to apologise, which I do. When one comes home, they don’t pay to come home,” said President William Ruto.

“I want to promise you that this might be the last time you are looking for a visa to come to Kenya because of two reasons. Number one, because this is home and number two, we support wholeheartedly the AfCFTA. We must remove any impediments to the movement of people around our continent,” added Ruto.

Kenya's decision comes after Rwanda issued a similar directive in the spirit of Pan-Africanism. Rwandan authorities intend to remove visa fees for more than 90 countries to entice more people to visit the nation and boost the economy through tourism.

In 2022, Kenya was chosen to participate in the pilot phase of the AfCFTA Initiative on Guided Trade as part of efforts to stimulate the movement of commodities under preferential trading, launched on January 1, 2021.

Other countries include Ghana, Cameroon, Egypt, Mauritius, Rwanda, Tanzania and Tunisia.