ugnet_: Thousands of Britons expelled by Kenya

[Matekopoko]

Good!  President Mwai Kibaki's Government should be commended for this move. There are very many Kenya University Graduates roaming the street of Nairobi looking for Jobs.  Kenya should invest in it's own people.  Expatriates should be used as a last resort. If there are positions which Kenyans can fill why should the country use expatriates to fill this positions?  Moreover, the so called expatriates often  are paid four times what a Kenyan makes! ..on top of that they are provide  with the best benefits  which  a kenyan can only dream about.

"Expatriates" , in short tend to  drain the Kenyan Economy of the very much need foreign exchange.


Matek





Thousands of Britons expelled by Kenya
By Adrian Blomfield in Nairobi
(Filed: 29/10/2003)


Thousands of Britons are facing banishment from Kenya following the
announcement by President Mwai Kibaki's government yesterday that it
would expel two-thirds of the country's expatriate workforce.

British businessmen and economists denounced the decision, which will
force out more than 16,000 of Kenya's 25,352 working expatriates,
along with their families.

Between 30,000 and 50,000 Britons live in Kenya, more than half of
whom are thought to be British Asians, prompting comparisons with Idi
Amin's expulsion of Asians from Uganda in 1972.

"This is a racist and economically suicidal move by the government,"
one British businessman said. "What is the difference between this
and what Idi Amin did or what Robert Mugabe is doing?"

Aware of the damaging publicity a mass exodus would cause, the
government said the expulsion would be implemented over the next two
years.

"It will not be a blanket removal," said Ali Mwakwere, the labour
minister. "The process has already begun, but we are honouring
existing work permits until they expire."

Mr Mwakwere said he would target skilled and semi-skilled foreigners
in the manufacturing industry, many of whom are Asians from Britain
and the Indian sub-continent.

Asian-dominated commerce is also in the sights of the minister, whose
ruling will be welcomed by poor, nationalist Kenyans. "Quite possibly
British Asians and Asians in general are the target," a British High
Commission official said. "We are watching the situation closely."

Non-Asian Britons are likely to be forced out too, as Mr Mwakwere
said the clearout would sweep through the hospitality and tourism
sectors.

"We are looking at anywhere where a foreigner is doing a job a Kenyan
could be doing," he said. "We have well-qualified tour guides and so
on who are out of a job."

Under Kenyan law, an expatriate whose two-year work permit is not
renewed must leave the country with his family within two months.

Missionaries have won an exemption and the government has promised
that senior managerial and technical staff at multinational companies
will be allowed to stay.

Despite those promises some British businesses say they have already
had work permit applications for technical staff rejected.

Several British schools were threatened with closure when permits for
expatriate teachers were rejected. An appeal by the British
Government and by cabinet ministers whose children are educated in
the private system won the schools a reprieve.

British businessmen welcomed Kenya's attempts to root out foreigners
who had illegally acquired work permits from corrupt officials in the
previous government of Daniel arap Moi.

But they said a number of technical specialists had been refused
permission to remain, although they were in roles that could not be
filled by local people.

Economists said the expulsion order was completely at odds with the
president's appeals to multinational companies to invest in Kenya and
revive the flagging economy.