• Principal Secretary Foreign Affairs Macharia Kamau said it is unfortunate that the incidents happened affecting Kenyans in Guangzhou and Beijing.
• Ambassador Wu Peng while dismissing the claims said individuals in the viral videos and photos were not Kenyans.
Image: EZEKIEL AMINGA
The government has admitted that some of the Kenyans living in China were mistreated amid efforts to contain the Covid-19.
Principal Secretary Foreign Affairs Macharia Kamau said it is unfortunate that the incidents happened affecting Kenyans in Guangzhou and Beijing.
Kamau said the reality is that it was unfortunate that Kenyans have been discriminated against in the process of Chinese authorities trying to contain the situation to avoid a resurgence of the virus.
He said the discrimination targeted foreign nationals but the government has collectively responded to the matter through the African Union.
The PS during a press conference on Tuesday, said the Chinese authorities have however assured to bring the matter to rest by ensuring all the laid down procedures are adhered to.
The PS said the government was aware of the recent decision by the Government of China to undertake stringent testing of foreigners and Chinese nationals alike, to forestall imported and asymptomatic cases of the virus in Guangzhou and other areas of China.
Image: COURTESY
"Unfortunately, these measures have in some instances precipitated unfair responses against foreigners particularly of African origin, from some members of the local community in Guangzhou, especially landlords," the Ministry said.
This comes after reports that Africans had been denied access to essential services amid the second wave of Covid-19 infections in the Asian nation.
In a story run by a local TV station, a group of people believed to be Africans, including Kenyans, are seen being driven out of their homes by Chinese police officers.
In the story, several Kenyans complained of how they had been forced to sleep in the cold after they were thrown out of their houses.
The Kenyans said they had not been given any explanation as to why they had been thrown out.
"All we have seen is posters indicating this community does not allow foreigners especially of the black origin, throw them out immediately," one of them said.
They said those who have been locked out of their houses were being forced into a 14-day quarantine in an unknown location.
According to them, for four days they had been denied access to essential services.
But the Chinese Embassy in Kenya refuted the claims.
The embassy, through Ambassador Wu Peng, said it has been trying to find out what happened with regards to viral videos and photos showing individuals of African origin being mistreated.
Ambassador Peng said the matter started when a few Africans, who are not Kenyans, arrived in Guangzhou in March and did not follow the local quarantine regulations.
“As far as I know, those videos did not tell the whole story, and secondly most people shown in the videos or pictures are not Kenyans. China has zero-tolerance for discrimination and treats all foreign nationals equally,” Peng said.
PS Macharia in a session with journalists on Tuesday said it is a normal norm for people to share houses when abroad.
But he said the current situation in China and prevailing circumstances do not allow many people to live in one flat.
"Chinese authorities did not want so many people in one place. Amid efforts to implement the social distancing they had to ask people to vacate some of the building a situation that was interpreted as evictions but all was about social distancing," he said.
Kamau said just as Kenya is stressing on social distancing, other countries are also trying to enforce the same.
He said that will play a key role in dealing with the disease.
"It is unfortunate through the guidelines, the Chinese landlords felt compelled to respond the way they did. It was unfortunate that it took a turn to become a racial thing," he said.