12 April 2020
URGENTLY ATTEND TO THE PLIGHT OF KENYANS IN THE DIASPORA
- The welfare of the citizen is any government’s foremost duty. This is why democracy has been defined as government of the people, by the people, for the people. If even only one citizen is in peril, the government must demonstrate the highest concern in restoring that citizen’s safety. That is why, today, I join my fellow Kenyans who have expressed dismay about the huge predicament of Kenyan citizens living in China, and indeed elsewhere in the world. It is emerging that their fate hangs dangerously in the balance in this troubled times of the coronavirus disease, in faraway places, where some of them are being subjected to inhuman and wicked treatment.
- Very disturbing images have especially come from China. They show the dire distress that Kenyans and other persons of African origin have fallen into. Despite denials to the contrary, it is evident that the Government of the People’s Republic of China and her citizens in China have embraced a discriminatory policy of attrition against peoples of African origin. Some of the images from China smack of undisguised racism. The Chinese government must come clean on this. For their part, African governments must call the attention of the government of China to international covenants that China has signed on foreign nationals. That many such persons have been rendered homeless and destitute in China is the very height of inhumanity. Host governments have both moral and legal duty to secure these people’s rights.
- In the prevailing circumstances in China, the people who have been ejected from their residential facilities are not able to find alternative homes, in China or elsewhere. How these people got to China is now a secondary issue, which can be addressed separately and differently. What is critical is their plight and fate, in the face of coronavirus. Reliable sources indicate that they have been ejected into the streets and are now in a state of hopelessness destitution. They are also stranded. They cannot leave China to get back home, or to relocate to a more friendly country, because international travel is on hold, virtually everywhere – besides other international travel protocol challenges. Nobody knows how soon we could expect regular country to country travel to resume. In the circumstances, it behooves the Kenya Government – in the case of Kenyan citizens – to intervene as a matter of great urgency.
- The vague explanations and assurances that have been made by both the Kenya Government and the government of the People’s Republic of China are far from convincing. Worse, in the Kenyan situation, is the loud silence from the Embassy in Beijing. Families that are directly affected need some level of comfort from the Government. They need to know about their relatives in China and elsewhere. And as a nation, we need to know how many of our fellow Kenyans are out of our country in these harsh times. What are their circumstances? How many of them – if any – have contracted the virus? What has happened to them, in that case? While the government has done well to keep us informed on the covid-19 situation in the country, it must also answer these questions.
- In the wake of this deadly virus, we have seen some foreign countries send aircraft to evacuate their citizens from our country and from other African countries. Our own government seems to be silent on this. We need to know what plans, if any, our government has to evacuate Kenyans – especially those in hardship circumstances in places like China. But beyond China, we need to know what is happening to our people wherever they may be away from home; throughout the world. This is an imperative that the government must address with all the urgency it deserves.
- Back home, we have beheld sad and saddening spectacles of sections of the political class fishing in the troubled waters of the harsh times that we are all going through. It is immoral and soulless to take advantage of vulnerable poor people in pursuit of selfish political goals. Of course we cannot demonize charitable interventions in this difficult season. Yet it is clear that some of the interventions we have seen are completely insensitive to the plight of the poor and only seek personal glory. Apart from dangerous breach of the social distance regulations, we are now seeing obscene circulation of branded items with portraits of politicians and their self-seeking political campaign messages, packaged as assistance to vulnerable populations. This is beyond both tragedy and insensitivity. We couldn’t possibly be more unfeeling.
- But apart from thoughtless selfishness, we are exposing citizens to the hazard we are all trying to run away from. The government has done the right thing to direct that all such contributions should be channeled through the relevant state agencies. This is as to should be. Just for avoidance of doubt the Mudavadi Memorial Foundation has quietly made such support. I urge other well-wishers to heed this call from the government so that we do not compound an already difficult situation.
H. E. Musalia Mudavadi, EGH
ANC PARTY LEADER
