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Thousands of Britons expelled by
Kenya
By Adrian Blomfield in
Nairobi
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.
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President Mwai Kibaki |
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. | 
