Africans to blame for Chinese mistreatment

Our diaspora feels like a cash cow that has run out of milk and is now abandoned.

Early November last year, I applied for a tourist visa to China. They demanded a certificate of good conduct from the police attested by our Foreign Affairs ministry and signed by the Chinese embassy, an invitation letter from a Chinese travel agency, proof that I had paid for my hotel stay in China, six months bank statements and an itinerary of my trip among other demands.

I asked “supposing we pay for the hotel stay and then have to cancel?” (Which I did because of Corona). “That’s not our problem,” came the retort. I felt humiliated, and so did the other Kenyans who were applying.

Meanwhile, Chinese nationals apply online and get their visas stamped on arrival at the airport. I left the visa centre furious. Outside, I met a senior Kenyan government official and complained to him. He suggested I apply for a Kenyan Diplomatic passport. But, what about the thousands of other Kenyans who want to travel to China? Therein lies our problem.

We take too much disrespect from other countries. In diplomatic lingo, we should have diplomatic reciprocity, but look at how we allow others to treat Kenyans. That is why we see Kenyans being abused abroad. This must change, and only we can make it change.

I was part of the diaspora for many years and I once requested our embassy to help 24 Kenyans who had not been paid for months. The stranded Kenyans did not want to leave as they were still hopeful they would get their unpaid salaries.

The ambassador told me that he could not help them because they went to that country without going through the Government of Kenya! Kenyans, however, are enterprising and will go anywhere in search of a living with or without government approval. We have two problems: Shortfall of embassy funding and African countries speaking individually. Kenya has 54 embassies and consulates but most of them do not have adequate funding to run them, let alone help stranded Kenyans. Some ambassadors will go the extra mile to assist, while some won’t.

Practical solutions exist. There are about four million Kenyans abroad, all with passports. Locally, one million Kenyans hold passports. I have long proposed that every Kenyan should be charged $50 for insurance along with the passport application. Every year we have another one million passport renewals. Had we applied this, the government would have had a starting kitty of $200 million and roughly $50 million in renewals every year. If you can afford Sh4,600 for a passport, you can afford another Sh5,000 for insurance for the five years validity of your passport. No Kenyan abroad would have suffered the way they do now. Government officials have come up with every bureaucratic excuse imaginable, but we must do this now.

We have all heard the story that “diaspora remittances exceed proceeds from tourism, tea and coffee”. The big question is; how come we have a Ministry for Agriculture and for Tourism but not one for the diaspora? We get an average of Sh300 billion every year from the diaspora.

Sorry, but this will now decrease and those who sent us this money will soon come for help. What will we offer them? The feeble excuse that they did not go abroad with the government’s approval? Did we ever ask whether they had government approval when we welcomed their remittances?

The World Bank numbers that the government is not talking about is that Kenyans abroad bring back only 5 per cent of their disposable income. If we made any real effort, we could incentivise them to invest at least 50 per cent of that disposable income here.

Post-Covid, Kenya will desperately need that money to rebuild its economy. Our diaspora feels like a cash cow that has run out of milk and is now abandoned. Demanding that Kenyans who are stranded and in serious problems pay for their own fare back home is cruel.

Twenty African ambassadors demanded to meet the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs to complain about the mistreatment of Africans. The Chinese sent an Assistant Minister to meet them.

Can you imagine if those ambassadors were from the European Union?

It is difficult to demand much when you hold a begging bowl. Therefore we must act collectively through the African Union. They can ignore Kenyan protests, but they cannot ignore the whole of Africa.

It is tempting to demand that we do to the Chinese here what they do to our people there, but then two wrongs do not make a right – and more important, the Chinese government does not give a damn about their people.

Such a strategy won’t work. The African Union must speak with one voice. When Africa roars, the dragon will listen. You get the respect you demand.

 

Mr Shahbal is Chairman of Gulf Group of [email protected]