Kenyan Muslims Traveling for This Year’s Hajj to Receive Special Treatment for Their Passport Applications

Kenya said on Wednesday that the more than 3,000 Kenyan Muslims traveling for this year’s Hajj would be accorded special treatment by speeding up their applications for passports for the annual pilgrimage.

Immigration Minister Otieno Kajwang regretted that over 4,000 Muslims that planned to travel to Saudi Arabia last year were delayed due to discriminatory and oppressive Kenyan rules.

He made the remarks at his offices in Nairobi when he received Muslim leaders who blamed the government for making it hard for Muslims to travel to Hajj.

The Muslim leaders blamed the government for oppressive scrutiny while applying for passports and said Muslims aged over 50 years were required to produce their mothers’ birth certificates to apply for a passport for the pilgrimage.

They also complained that passports issued to Muslims attending the Hajj are restricted to Middle East only and are valid for only one year.

Kajwang assured the leaders that immigration rules shall apply uniformly to all Kenyans.

Source African Press Agency

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