The government under the Interior Ministry on Tuesday commenced an operation to flush out foreigners who were working in Kenya illegally.
Ministry of Interior spokesperson Mwenda Njoka told Kenyans.co.ke that there would not be an extension of the grace period adding that the foreigners had been given 60 days to verify their work permits.
Echoing the sentiment, Immigration Principal Secretary Gordon Kihalangwa affirmed that those who were found without work permits would be deported.
The PS disclosed that out of the 34,550 foreign workers in the country, 26,552 had verified their work permits in an exercise that ended last week.
[caption caption="The First Lady Margaret Kenyatta at the Work permits Verification centre at Nyayo house on 11/7/2017"]
[/caption]
According to the Kenya Citizenship and Immigration Act 2011, all persons against who a deportation order has been issued shall be removed from Kenya within a period of ninety days from the day such final removal order is made or after appeal and further detention shall be extended by a court of law for not more than thirty days.
The immigration department is mandated to establish a holding facility at ports of entry and exit and any other immigration operation areas which shall be used for holding persons ordered to be removed to their countries under section 26A of the Penal Code (Cap. 63), ordered deported under section 43 of this Act, persons whose citizenship has not been established, deportees in transit, and persons denied entry awaiting return and who are not under carrier liability.
The exercise comes after CS Fred Matiang'i issued a 60-day ultimatum for all foreigners working in Kenya to regularise their permits.
Speaking during a meeting with the Parliamentary Security Committee in Mombasa, the CS noted that unemployment levels in the country are high since jobs have been taken by foreigners.
“We have not cleaned up our systems on Immigration. Our official records show there are 34,000 foreigners working in Kenya. You and I know that is not true, the real figure is there are probably over 100,000. Means there are people doing jobs that Kenyans can do, coming through the back door,” Matiang'i explained.
Similarly, President Uhuru Kenyatta revealed that authorities had discovered that unscrupulous people were abusing the system and taking advantage of Kenya's hospitality.
He disclosed that the government had made the process of acquiring a work permit more stringent to prevent those with ill intentions from making it into the county.
[caption caption="President Uhuru Kenyatta"]
[/caption]
