In the case of Mwinzi, she challenged the committee’s decision that she should renounce her US citizenship, saying it would violate her rights.
Leadership And Integrity Act on dual citizenship
Article 31(1) of the Leadership and Integrity Act No. 19 of 2012 states that a state officer who acquires dual citizenship shall lose his or her position as a state officer.
The person shall only retain his/her position upon appointment by officially renouncing the other country’s citizenship.
The appointed person will only take the office after renouncing the other citizenship.
The Citizenship and Immigration Act, 2011 states that a dual citizen shall, subject to the limitations contained in the Constitution, be entitled to a passport and other travel documents and to such other rights as shall be the entitlement of citizens.
A state officer is required to carry out the duties of the office with impartiality.
State officers
A state officer is any person occupying a public office, which is an office in the national government, a county government or the public service.
States officers include the President, Deputy President, Cabinet Secretaries, Members of Parliament, judges and magistrates, a member of a commission, member of a county assembly, governor or deputy governor, or other member of the executive committee of a county government, Attorney General and holder of an independent office as stipulated in Chapter 15 of the Constitution.
Others are the DPP, Secretary to the Cabinet, Principal Secretary, Chief of the Kenya Defence Forces, Commander of Kenya Defence Forces, the Director General of the National Intelligence Service and the Inspector General and Deputy Inspectors General of the police service.
Revocation of citizenship
The state can revoke someone’s citizenship gained through birth. This can happen if it is established that citizenship had been acquired in a fraudulent manner, false representation or concealment of any material fact by any person.
It can also be revoked if it is revealed later that the nationality or parentage of the person becomes known and reveals that the person was a citizen of another country.
A person can also lose his/her citizenship if the actual age is known and reveals that the person was older than eight years when found in Kenya.
Earlier in August, lawyer Miguna Miguna sued 25 top government officials for denying him his Kenyan citizenship.
Miguna said that he was a Kenyan-born citizen at the time he was deported and that at no point did he renounce his citizenship.
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