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{
    "id": 1481095,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1481095/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 91,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Musalia Mudavadi",
    "speaker_title": "The Prime Cabinet Secretary and Cabinet Secretary for Foreign and Diaspora Affairs",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 84,
        "legal_name": "Wycliffe Musalia Mudavadi",
        "slug": "musalia-mudavadi"
    },
    "content": "You will also appreciate that sometimes we have cases where Kenyans are in distress and some can signal the Embassy and say they are in distress. However, there are others who do not speak at all when they are in distress. So, we sometimes stumble on information maybe because it was not volunteered by the person in question. This is the example of the Dida case. We were reading about it. Obviously, it was his personal decision to go, but he was silent on the communication of his whereabouts or what he was doing. So, it becomes very difficult to keep track on some of these cases. However, our missions have intervened in various circumstances to try and guide Kenyans in distress and help them to access legal services in different areas. Please, remember that it is a very expensive undertaking. We would be misleading the House if we said that we can take up this role directly. An intervention can be done under very special circumstances. On the issue of Kenyans who may have died abroad, in the course of this year, the Ministry of Foreign and Diaspora Affairs has assisted about 18 cases of Kenyans who may have died under different circumstances. Our embassies and missions have been of assistance in trying to repatriate the remains to the country. Again, as I said, this is when the distress and the circumstances are on a case-by-case basis that you analyse and see what the circumstances are. We are working on bilateral labor agreements. We have negotiated some and have concluded with Germany and Austria. There are others that are in the pipeline. For instance, we are working on how to improve our engagement with the Saudi Arabia Government on labor movement. Recently, for instance, the Qatar Minister for Labor was here. We had a conversation on how we can advance the conversation between Kenya and Qatar. We will continue streamlining the bilateral labor agreements, so that any issue of immigration or migrant workers is in conformity with international law and matters of human rights. Through these bilateral agreements, we want to try and secure the dignity of Kenyans in the various places that they prefer to work in. On the issue of Lebanon, we have about 26,000 Kenyans in Lebanon. Obviously, evacuating 26,000 is a very massive undertaking. However, as a measure, the Ministry of Foreign and Diaspora Affairs, through our Embassy in Kuwait, was sending out messages so that those who are in distress can register. Even before the war escalated, this was ongoing. We had received about 1,500 people or so who had registered with the Embassy indicating that they may need support for evacuation. The others were quiet. Believe you me, Senators, we also had a situation where the Kenyans, out of their own volition, said they do not want to move. They want to hold out until the situation cools down. We have that dilemma as well, of Kenyans who hope for the best and do not want to move. You cannot force them because we have to handle this in a humanitarian way. However, the Government of Kenya has set aside Kshs100 million. There is a committee in the Ministry of Foreign and Diaspora Affairs working with the security and other agencies to see how this Kshs100 million can be utilized to assist in the evacuation of Kenyans who are in Lebanon at this point in time. Mr. Speaker, Sir, I may need to seek further clarification from Sen. Olekina on the issue of returns. I may need guidance on the specifics of these returns, because we are The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and AudioServices, Senate."
}