Kenya gives foreign businesses 90 days' grace

The Kenyan Government on Tuesday gave foreigners running businesses in the country 90 days to obtain or update required documents, including work permits and business licences. The move followed remarks by the President about foreign-owned businesses that sparked panic in immigrant communities, reports africanews. Presidential spokesperson Hussein Mohamed said government agencies would carry out the process with foreign embassies. He warned against threats, harassment and intimidation of foreign businesspeople. Hundreds of Burundian nationals went to their embassy in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, on Monday to obtain documents. Some planned to return home because they fear for their lives. Kenya's economy, the strongest in the East African region, has attracted foreign investors as well as labourers from neighbouring countries. President William Ruto acknowledged last week receiving complaints from small business owners who said foreigners were unfairly competing with them. He directed Kenyan lawmakers to expand a Bill currently before Parliament to include fair participation in small businesses by foreigners and identify sectors that may be reserved for locals. The President's directive created panic within the Burundian and Congolese communities. Mohamed said the registration process was aimed at ensuring compliance with Kenyan law and the East African rules governing the movement of goods, labour and services. ‘Every person conducting business in Kenya is required to comply with applicable immigration, work-permit, registration and licensing requirements. Over the next 90 days, the government will conduct an orderly regularisation exercise to facilitate compliance,’ Mohamed said. Korir Sing'oei, permanent secretary in the Foreign Ministry, visited dozens of Burundian citizens at their embassy in Nairobi on Monday and apologised for the misrepresentation of the President's directive, saying the registration exercise was also aimed at protecting foreigners. 

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There are about 16 000 Burundian refugees and asylum seekers in Kenya, according to the UN refugee agency, reports Business Day. Many work in small-scale businesses in Nairobi, selling items such as coffee and used clothes. Ruto’s critics have accused him of blaming Kenya’s economic difficulties on foreigners as he looks to an election next year, when he is due to stand for a second term. 'What South Africans did to foreigners and what Kenyans are doing is the same thing. They've expelled us like animals,’ said Pastor Jean-Baptiste Ndayizeye, one of the Burundians forced to leave Kenya, according to a report in africanews. Ndayizeye said two of his neighbours had been attacked and robbed, comparing the situation to the xenophobic attacks in SA. AFP was not able to independently verify the claims. Burundi’s Foreign Minister Edouard Bizimana condemned the ‘violence against foreigners, particularly Burundians’. ‘Letting Kenyan civilians do the work of the police gives the impression of a failed state because it gives free rein to violence, to looting and to xenophobia,’ he posted on X.