MPs Give Uhuru's CS 10-Day Ultimatum Over Ambassador's Citizenship

The National Assembly has given Foreign Affairs CS Monica Juma 10 days to find out if South Korea ambassadorial nominee Mwende Mwinzi is set to renounce her American Citizenship.

Juma was appearing before a Parliamentary Committee on Thursday, September 12, to answer to questions surrounding reports that a nominee with dual citizenship who had been vetted for the position had already been deployed without relinquishing the citizenship of United States. 

Capital FM reported that the session was supposed to have been held on Thursday morning but the CS requested the Jeremiah Kioni-led Constitutional Implementation Oversight Committee to push the session to 4 pm.

It was not clear what the consequence the CS will face once the 10 days were over.

The committee summoned the CS after unverified reports that Mwinzi, who is both a Kenyan and US citizen, had already presented her credentials in South Korea.

Juma was taken to task over the part she played in the induction of 34 cohorts of ambassadors including Mwinzi.

This was despite the recommendations by the Defense and Foreign Relations Committee who vetted her and advised that she denounces her US citizenship before taking up the job.

Endebess MP Robert Pukose had raised the issue on Tuesday, September 10, claiming that he had obtained reports that the Mwingi West Jubilee parliamentary aspirant in the 2017 election had disregarded the defense committee recommendations on her suitability to take up the job.

“Information available is that the said nominee intends to take up the appointment without renouncing her citizenship to the United States of America notwithstanding the conditions set by Parliament,” he stated.

This pushed House speaker, Justin Muturi, to order the Kioni-led committee to fast track the probe on the matter and report back to the House once the claims have been ascertained.

Mwinzi was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to a Kenyan father and an American mother and is married to a Nigerian citizen.

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