There were more than 535,000 Kenyans living abroad as of 2020, with 157,000 living in the US.
The UK followed closely with about 140,000 Kenyans living there that year. The rest are scattered in different countries in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Southeast Asia.
These Kenyans in diaspora send remittances , which have been increasing annually and now a big part of the Kenya economy. According to the Central Bank of Kenya, a Diaspora Remittances Survey conducted between March and May 2021 showed remittance inflows increased tenfold in the last 15 years reaching an all-time record of $3,718 million in 2021. That is more than Sh453 billion Kenya shillings or three per cent of Kenya’s GDP.
The substantial increase in remittances over the years is similarly matched with increased interest and involvement in Kenyan politics by these Kenyans living abroad. Indeed, the recently held general election saw an unprecedented organising and participation of Kenyans abroad.
As one of those who was deeply involved in both diaspora and ground Azimio campaign efforts, I was saddened to discover that for many Kenyans, pettiness, self-serving toxicity, and pure jealousy that has been the poison that has killed many efforts to unite Kenyans in the past are still alive and well.
In 2005, a handful of us in Washington were invited by the World Bank to form what we called the Kenya Diaspora Network. The objective as given to us by the World Bank was to organise Kenyans in the US to channel their remittances in a more productive manner that encompassed investment back home.
Forming KDN was a noble notion and we made great strides in our weekly after-work meetings at the World Bank offices to implement the vision but in no time, KDN grew to a larger group that included the poison that killed the initiative.
The same poison was alive and present in the now failed Azimio campaign effort to elect its leader Raila Odinga. Similar poison was alive and well in the Kenya Kwanza coalition, but the difference is, William Ruto was hands-on and more effective in making sure this did not adversely impact his campaign.
Even as there was the counter-productive infighting, backstabbing, and elbowing for positions that did not exist within the Azimio campaign, and less so in the Kenya Kwanza campaign, Kenyans in the diaspora were for the first time heard by the leading presidential candidates who each promised to do something about their needs once in office.
President Ruto added diaspora affairs to the foreign affairs docket and appointed a principal secretary for the unit that is now under Alfred Mutua as the Cabinet Secretary. All well and good.
The question that remains is whether Kenyans in the diaspora can shake their political affiliation back home and unite for their common good. It is possible, but if history is anything to go by, it is not going to be easy.
In fact, the odds are the needle will only move ever so slightly toward that unity simply because the underlying reasons why the country is so divided have yet to be addressed.
The president has indicated his wish to have a side-bar meeting with Kenyans when he comes to Washington next month for the Africa Leaders’ Summit.
In making the announcement, Kenya’s top diplomat in Washington Ambassador Lazarus Amayo emphasized that the President’s desire to meet with Kenyans in Washington comes with an expectation that the meeting must reflect the reality the elections are over and that Ruto is now president for all Kenyans.
The ambassador advised, therefore, the organizing and conduct of that meeting must reflect this reality.
In other words, the Washington meeting must be done in a manner that is non-partisan and inclusive of all Kenyans who wish to participate, and not as a UDA affair.
If that happens, we will make great stride in finally uniting Kenyans in the diaspora.
