31 B. Case Law on Citizenship by Registration. 12. The provision of confidential security reports about persons who had applied for citizenship by the National Intelligence Service was subject to the right to fair administrative action. Republic v Cabinet Secretary for the Ministry of Interior and Coordination of National Government & 2 others Ex-parte Patricia Olga Howson Misc Civil Application No 324 of 2013 High Court of Kenya at Nairobi G V Odunga, J December 20, 2013 The provision of confidential security reports is also subject to the right to fair administrative action and delaying the release of such a report for an unnecessary and unjustified period of time would amount to an abuse of power. Summary of facts The applicant’s submissions The applicant made an application for registration as a citizen of Kenya as she was the spouse of a Kenyan citizen and her application was submitted to the Ministry of State for Immigration on April 22, 2013. She complained that there had been no response or communication received from the relevant authorities except that she had been issued with two acknowledgement slips. She was not aware of the status of her application and her questions had gone unanswered. Her complaint was that there had been a refusal and neglect to grant citizenship which she was entitled to under the law. The respondents’ submissions In reply, on behalf of the respondents, it was explained that a confidential security report, which was to be prepared by the National Intelligence Service for persons seeking Kenyan citizenship, was yet to be received in the case of the applicant. For that reason, there had been a delay in processing the application for citizenship. Key issues for determination The main issues for determination were whether the grant of citizenship by registration was an automatic right or entitlement enjoyed by a person who had a subsisting marriage with a Kenyan citizen for more than 7 years; and whether the court could force immigration authorities to grant a foreign national married to a Kenyan Kenyan citizenship. Summary of judgement • On the delay, the court held that in the terms of article 47 of the Constitution of Kenya 2010 (right to fair administrative action), in her application for citizenship, the CITIZENSHIP AND NATIONALITY RIGHTS CASE DIGEST