National Assembly speaker wrong to feign ignorance over abuse of Kenyans in Saudi

Speaker of the National Assembly Justin Muturi has a word with Shura of Saudi Arabia His Excellency Abdullah ibn Muhammad Al ash-Sheikh as majority leader Aden Duale (centre) and his minority counterpart John Mbadi listen during bilateral meetings in Saudi Arabia. [Standard]

It’s better to keep your mouth shut and appear stupid than open it and remove all doubt. That seminal wisecrack – attributed to either Abraham Lincoln or Mark Twain – aptly describes Speaker Justin Muturi’s statement about the enslavement of migrant workers in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf States. Speaker Muturi and Majority Leader Aden Duale were in Saudia for one of their usual taxpayer-funded “benchmarking” junkets. He denounced reports of well-documented abuses of migrant workers, including Kenyans, in the kingdom. Without irony, his shocking remarks came after a meeting with Abdullah ibn Muhammad Al ash-Sheikh, Speaker of Majlis al-Shura, the possum Consultative Assembly, the advisory body to Saudi’s absolute monarch. The Majlis as-Shura is a pretend parliament.

Let’s first of all dispense with the terrible optics and substance of the frolic to Saudi Arabia by Mr Muturi, Mr Duale, and their cavorting fellow legislators. There’s no doubt that Saudi Arabia is an important and strategic power in the Middle East. It’s endowed with vast deposits of oil – the black gold – although I am told that’s dwindling. As dirty energy, oil has no future not only because it’s finite, it’s also being replaced by renewable and green energy. Saudi Arabia is also the birthplace and spiritual centre of Islam. But a democracy it isn’t. Saudi Arabia – with American protection for its oil – is a repressive, misogynistic, racist, corrupt, and morally bankrupt society. It’s the epitome of kleptocracy.