Prime Cabinet Secretary Mudavadi has extended deep gratitude to the Kenyan Diaspora for their significant contribution to Kenya’s economic growth through remittances. He highlighted their role in stabilizing the Kenyan shilling against major global currencies.
Mudavadi made these remarks during his official visit to Namibia, where he met with members of the Kenyan Diaspora. He emphasized the critical importance of their financial contributions, stating, “If we go into numbers, you have surpassed coffee, tea and even our horticulture.
Basically, Kenyans in the diaspora are very key in stabilising the rate of the shilling against hard currencies. If Kenyans in the diaspora slightly slide from the trajectory we are in, then inflation can be a problem back home.”
The Prime Cabinet Secretary also discussed plans to enhance the partnership with the Diaspora, including the potential for a diaspora bond. He explained, “Earlier it was mooted but numbers in terms of the resource-base had not reached a threshold that could make a powerful statement if you went for the diaspora bond.
But today the figures indicate that Kenya is now ripe for a diaspora bond, where you can help in investing in key infrastructure whether it is the roads, hospitals or institutions that matter and have a serious impact on the people.”
Remittances from Kenyans abroad reached a record Sh671 billion ($4.19 billion) in 2023, significantly improving the country’s current account balance amidst declining export revenues.
Mudavadi encouraged the Diaspora to participate actively in shaping the upcoming Diaspora Policy Paper, which will soon be presented to Parliament. He said, “We have had Kenya’s foreign policy sometimes on paper but one thing has never quite happened: it has never been owned by the people of Kenya directly since it has been the preserve of the executive.
We are in the process of now working on a sessional paper on Kenya’s foreign policy which we want to take to parliament so that Kenyans can debate and have a bigger say in what they believe should be their foreign policy.”
During the visit, Kenyans in Namibia also urged the government to expedite the introduction of direct flights between Nairobi and Windhoek, requesting that any protocol or security issues be swiftly addressed through negotiations between the two nations.
Led by the chair of their association Dan Mule, they said the introduction of direct flights will help boost the growth of business and investments between Kenya and Namibia thus largely contributing to the growth of Kenya’s GDP.
“Direct flights will open many opportunities that remain untapped. When we have exports like tea coming direct from Kenya to Namibia, it is a sign of potential growth in our export market,” said Mule.
