The government is working on mechanisms to establish a welfare fund for Kenyan diaspora, Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi has revealed.
Mudavadi outlined that the fund will be directed towards providing social security, emergency relief and repatriation assistance for Kenyan citizens living abroad.
He said this will go alongside the ongoing plans to establish a Diaspora Bond framework, which seeks to mobilise savings from Kenyans living abroad for investment in national development projects.
“As government through the Ministry of Foreign and Diaspora Affairs, we are working with parliament to establish a framework that will legally formalise the allocation of resources from the tax payers to cater for some of these challenges since the diaspora is growing in numbers and their needs are also increasing.” he noted.
However, the Prime Cabinet Secretary said the proposal comes with a lot of considerations that will help strike a balance to mitigate against public uproar and misallocation of financial resources drawn from the tax payers’ kitty.
He was speaking in South Korea when he met the Kenyan Community living in Korea at the Kenyan embassy in Seoul.
“The government and particularly Parliament will have to scrutinise this proposal carefully since questions will emerge of how much can you take from the tax payers to cater for a section of the diaspora who get themselves into trouble knowingly,” Mudavadi said.
“The moral question will then arise on how Kenyans who get themselves in illegal activities like drug trafficking, human trafficking, engage with unscrupulous recruitment agencies among other vices should be covered by the fund,” Mudavadi highlighted.
Mudavadi also the Cabinet Secretary for Foreign and Diaspora Affairs noted that the government is working to strengthen ties with diaspora communities while improving consular services and support through Kenyan missions abroad.
He said while the government is putting in all these measures the diaspora should reciprocate by ensuring they follow the laws and regulations of the countries where they have secured jobs or where they are studying.
He said the framework for securing Kenyans abroad is supported by the Kenya Diaspora Policy and is currently advancing through the legislative process via the Labour Migration Management Bill.
“So far, we have knocked out over 700 rogue recruitment agencies. We are currently working on a bill that will translate into a legislation that will help impose stringent punishment on those found culpable of engaging in illegal recruitment. This will go beyond deregistration and imposing fines; since we want to outline other measures that are dire and have severe consequences including imprisonment.” Mudavadi warned.
“We will gazette the legal recruitment agencies and make them public to ensure Kenyans securing jobs abroad are legally protected.” he noted.
The Prime CS said the government is also working on expanding the discussions on bilateral labour agreements with various countries.
He said there is need for deepening diplomatic conversations around labour mobility to save Kenyans in distress abroad.
