The Kenyan passport has been ranked the 9th strongest in Africa and 71st globally with holders able to access 71 destinations across the world without a prior visa.
The Henley Passport Index which bases its findings on data obtained from the International Air Transport Association (IATA), country policy and information mined from reliable online sources ranks the Japanese passport as the strongest globally and the Seychellois passport the strongest in Africa.
It boards improvement for Kenya which moves up three positions after it was ranked 74th globally in the last report released by Henley in July 2019 which revealed that Kenyans could travel to 70 nations without a visa.
According to the report released on Tuesday, the Kenyan passport trails the Seychellois passport which scores 151 points, Mauritius (146), South Africa (100), Botswana (84), Namibia (76), Lesotho (74), Eswatini (73) and Malawi (72).
The number of points shows the number of destinations a holder can visit without a prior visa.
Conversely, the Kenyan passport is the strongest in East Africa beating regional countries including the Tanzanian passport which scores 70 points, Uganda (66), Rwanda (59) and Burundi (49).
The Somali passport is the least powerful in the continent garnering a score of 32.
The Japanese passport (191), Singapore (190), Germany (189), South Korea (189), Finland (188), Italy (188), Denmark (187), Luxembourg (187), Spain (187) and France (186) are the world’s most powerful passports.
Kenyan passport
Kenya adopted the electronic passport in 2017 phasing out the traditional ones which remain valid until March 2020.
The chip-embedded electronic passports which contain a holder’s biometric data were mooted to end rampant forgery and impersonation of the owners.
Besides the security features, the chip technology-powered passports enable a holders’ travel itinerary to be automatically updated at any airport in the world and verification made real-time through the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO).
