Evacuate Kenyans suffering in China, Mudavadi tells state

ANC leader Musalia Mudavadi has urged the government to come clear on the plight of Kenyans stuck in other countries especially in China as the world battles the coronavirus pandemic.

Hetold government to evacuate Kenyans stuck in China, which is experiencing a second wave of Covid-19 outbreak in Guangzhou Province.

In his statement, seen by Standard Digital, Mudavadi (pictured) lashed out at the government for not being responsive in addressing the problems of Kenyans in China, whom he said face discrimination in the Asian country.

“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 very silent on this,” he says.

“We need to know what plans if any the government has in evacuating  Kenyans-especially those in hardship circumstances like China.”

Mudavadi accused the government of going mute as Kenyans suffered in the hands of Chinese authorities. He referred to media reports that Africans were flushed out of their hotel rooms, denied accommodation and blocked from buying food from restaurants in Guangzhou province, as the Chinese government enforced measures to curb Covid-19.

The ANC boss said the government and its Chinese authorites were flip-flopping over the issue despite the urgency needed to address the matter.

Musalia said: “The vague explanations and assurances that have been made by both the Kenyan government and the government of the People’s Republic of China are far from convincing. Worse in the Kenyan situation, is the loud silence in the Embassy in Beijing.”

“Families that are directly affected need some level of comfort from the Government.”

On Saturday, when asked about government’s efforts in ensuring the humane treatment of Kenyans stuck China, Director-General in the Ministry of Health Dr Patrick Amoth said that Kenya expects China to treat her citizens well; same way Nairobi handled Chinese citizens who arrived in the country shortly after virus broke out in Wuhan, China.

Discrimination

The reports alleged that Africans stuck in China are facing racial discrimination as they are accused of importing the virus into the country.

Mudavadi said that addressing the safety of Africans in China should not be on the basis of whether they have travel documents or not.

“…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…what is critical is their light and fate in the face of coronavirus,” he noted.

He demanded that the Chinese government issue a statement on the issue, given the video footages shared from the country depict blatant acts of racism meted on Africans.

Yesterday, Bloomberg reported how Africans and US rose up against China for the alleged mistreatment as many countries demanded immediate response from Beijing.

The report also stated that US also claimed that African-Americans were caught in the alleged racial discrimination.

However, Chinese police said the claims that more than 300,000 Africans were mistreated are untrue. This was after a Nigeria’s House of Representative Speaker Femi Gbajabiamila shared a video where he was grilling a Chinese ambassador to Nigeria Zhou Pingjian over the issue.

“It’s almost undiplomatic the way I’m talking, but it’s because I’m upset about what’s going on,” he said.

“We take it very seriously,” Ambassador Pingjian replied.

This came in the wake of a meeting which brought together African ambassadors to China to discuss the mistreatment of Africans

 The diplomats condemned the incident as “stigmatisation and discrimination” which created a false impression that the virus was being spread by Africans.

“The Group of African Ambassadors in Beijing immediately demands the cessation of forceful testing, quarantine and other inhuman treatments meted out to Africans,” they said in a statement.