Kenya's Immigration Policy U-Turn: From Closure Order to 90-Day Compliance Period, Burundian Vendors Bear the Brunt

Nairobi experienced an almost uncontrolled U-turn on immigration policy in less than a week.

According to African News, Kenyan President William Ruto recently ordered the closure of small businesses operated by immigrants, and the directive immediately triggered widespread panic across the country, with hundreds of Burundians flooding their national embassy seeking to return home. Burundian street vendors form a significant immigrant group engaged in small-scale trade in Nairobi—when the "full closure" executive order reached the streets ahead of any clarification, panic rather than compliance became their first reaction.

According to African News, the panic quickly spread to a broader level: Ruto's closure order raised fears that Kenya might replay the xenophobic violence recently seen in South Africa. Against this backdrop, Kenya's Deputy Foreign Minister issued a public apology, and the President's Office subsequently announced an "orderly compliance operation" over the next 90 days, requiring foreign workers to complete procedures related to immigration, work permits, registration, and business licenses.

Kenyan Foreign Minister Musalia Mudavadi offered clarification, stating that "Kenya has not imposed a blanket ban on foreigners engaged in small-scale trade, but is rather ensuring that their participation complies with the East African Community Common Market Protocol and applicable domestic laws." He added that Kenya remains open to foreign nationals engaged in both small-scale and large-scale trade, provided they meet "immigration, work permit, registration, and licensing requirements," and that Kenya's approach is "more regulatory than discriminatory."

However, the gap between the rhetoric of "compliance regulation" and the original closure order has already produced tangible fallout among grassroots immigrant groups who depend on street trade for their livelihoods: hundreds of Burundians rushed to the embassy in panic seeking to return home, with departure rather than compliance becoming the only visible option available to them in the face of the executive order. The original order was announced without clear guidance, leaving immigrant communities in this predicament. Whether the 90-day rectification period can offer practical relief to the small vendors already caught up in the panic remains to be seen.

More ironically, the Kenyan side has invoked the East African Community Common Market Protocol to defend the policy—a protocol that is itself designed to promote the free movement of people and capital across the region. Imposing restrictions on cross-border small-scale traders under the banner of "compliance regulation" sits in obvious tension with the stated intent of this regional integration framework. The gap between this legal commitment and its actual enforcement is at the heart of the current controversy.