This archive report was first published on 5 October 2019.
On October 5, 2019, ODM leader Raila Odinga expressed his concerns over the treatment of Mwende Mwinzi by the Kenyan Parliament, calling it 'extremely disturbing and dubious.'
According to Mr. Odinga, the MPs' decision to require Ms. Mwinzi to renounce her American citizenship before taking up her role as Kenya's ambassador to South Korea is a 'petty vendetta' and a refusal to rise above 'partisan interests.'
Mr. Odinga argued that there is no reason for Parliament to maintain that Ms. Mwinzi cannot be Kenya's ambassador to South Korea, citing Article 14 of the Constitution, which states that a person is a citizen by birth if either the mother or father of the person is a citizen.
Ms. Mwinzi, who was born in the United States, has moved to court seeking to have the Kenyan Government send her to South Korea without requiring her to denounce her American citizenship, which she claims is illegal, null, and void.
The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) has launched investigations into allegations that several State and public officers, including MPs and Senators, hold dual citizenship, in violation of Article 78(2) of the Constitution.
