BY SAM ALFAN.
The High Court has ruled that ambassadorial nominee to South Korea, Mwende Mwinzi, cannot be forced to renounce her American citizenship in order to take up the job.
In a judgment delivered yesterday, Justice James Makau ruled that citizenship by birth was a constitutional right that cannot be taken away by anyone.
The judge said that Mwinzi’s nomination by the President, once ratified by the National Assembly, qualified her as a public officer and not a State officer.
“There is no legislation enacted that the office of ambassador is a state office. It should be noted by the court that the office of the ambassador is a public office, the holder having been appointed by the President,” Judge Makau said.
The judge, however, dismissed the constitutional application by Mwinzi, stating that it was filed prematurely. He said the appointment to the position of ambassador is not an event but a process.
“Considering the position that the matter is still in progress and it’s not complete, the process should be allowed to be concluded,” he reasoned.
He pointed out that the President, who made the nomination, was yet to make the appointment formally on the advice of the National Assembly. “I dismiss the petition on grounds that it is premature,” he said.
Mwinzi filed a suit at the Constitutional and Human Rights Division of the High Court in February, seeking to have Parliament stopped from forcing her to renounce her US citizenship before she takes up the job.
Through her lawyer, Prof Tom Ojienda, she argued that the recommendation of the Parliamentary Departmental Committee on Defence and Foreign Relations was unconstitutional and illegal since only a state office requires an appointee to hold Kenyan citizenship alone.
According to Mwinzi, she is a US citizen by birth and cannot renounce this before taking up the position as recommended by the committee.
On May 2, President Uhuru Kenyatta nominated Mwinzi but after vetting, MPs recommended that she should only be appointed after she renounces her American citizenship.
“My US citizenship was acquired by birth and as such, my citizenship or the process of opting in was a consequence of circumstances out of my control,” she had argued.
