Africa – the world’s second-largest continent with 54 recognized countries – has again been reminded of a low-hanging fruit that must be plucked in the continent’s enlightened self-interest. This was as President William Ruto of Kenya told an international conference in Congo-Brazzaville that his country is set to end visa requirements for all African visitors by the end of this year. Kenya was in 2022 ranked 31st on Africa’s Visa Openness Index which measures the extent to which each country in Africa is open to visitors from other African countries. President Ruto is now poised to improve this ranking, with the realization that allowing extant visa restrictions on fellow Africans was bad for business.

In the words of Ruto: “When people cannot travel, businesspeople cannot travel, entrepreneurs cannot travel, we all become net losers.” The loud cheers and standing ovation his speech got from the summiteers point to the fact that free movement across Africa is exactly what informed minds yearn for the continent. However, as desirable as this is, visa processes and processing in Africa remain a complicated web of regulations and agreements. This is despite the fact that visa-free travel within the continent has been a goal of the African Union (AU) over the past decade. The AU launched its African passport in 2016 so that all African citizens can travel across the continent without visas – despite this, that passport has remained widely unacceptable.

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