49 citizenship. The petitioners sought to regain Kenyan citizenship and applied for Kenyan passports but the 1st respondent declined to issue the passports. The petitioners said that the denial of the passports was a violation of their rights guaranteed by the Constitution under article 14 and 27 and they wanted the court to declare that they were Kenyan Citizens. The respondents’ submissions The respondents admitted that the petitioners, at birth, were Kenyan citizens. However the respondents claimed that the petitioners lost their citizenship when they were adopted by British parents and acquired British nationality. Since dual citizenship was not allowed in the Repealed Constitution, the respondents argued that the petitioners lost their Kenyan citizenship. As such, the respondents stated that the petition was premature and that the petitioners needed to follow the procedure provided for in section 10 of the Kenya Citizen and Immigration Act in order to regain citizenship. Key issues for determination The main issue for the court to determine was what legal procedure was applicable to a person who was a Kenyan citizen by birth and was seeking to regain Kenyan citizenship after having lost it by acquiring foreign citizenship? Secondly, the court had to outline the circumstances in which a person would be entitled to a Kenyan passport. Summary of judgment • On whether the petitioner’s citizenship by birth was officially cancelled after being adopted by British parents, the court held that given that the petitioners were Kenyan citizens by birth, their citizenship could not be officially cancelled or lost merely because they acquired citizenship of another country. Under article 14(5) of the Constitution, a person who The rights and privileges of citizenship under 12(1) of the Constitution, included the was a Kenyan by birth, on the effective date, but ceased article giving of passports, documents of registration or to be a Kenyan by acquiring foreign citizenship, was identification given by the State to its citizens. entitled upon application to regain Kenyan citizenship. The petitioners fell within the terms of article 14(5) of the Constitution and they were entitled to regain citizenship after making an application. What the petitioners were required to do was to apply to regain their citizenship. The provisions of article 14(4) of the Constitution and section 9 of the Kenya Citizenship and Immigration Act would not apply to the applicants because those provisions applied to children who were apparently under the age of 5 years with unknown parents. • On whether citizenship by birth could be lost, the court held that a person born in Kenya with at least one Kenyan parent would enjoy Kenyan citizenship by birth under the terms of article 14(1) of the Constitution. That citizenship could not be lost or cancelled under any circumstances. The rights and privileges of citizenship under CITIZENSHIP AND NATIONALITY RIGHTS CASE DIGEST