Every day tens of thousands of Kenyans based all over the world wake up in the morning not sure that all will be well by the end of the day. You see they are illegal immigrants. Brave Kenyans who have had little option but to seek a better way of life elsewhere away from their home country, which is yet to sort itself out and get organized.
These illegal immigrants are part of the army of Kenyans living abroad that have made the Kibaki administration look like economy-turnaround-miracle workers, remitting over 53 billion back home annually (that makes this the highest foreign exchange earner for the Kenyan exchequer). This is in fact the main reason why the Kenyan shilling continues to strengthen against major foreign currencies despite the many other economic woes and escalating poverty in the country.
While it is true that these immigrants have broken the law by being in those countries illegally, there is no shortage of genuine mitigating circumstances. It is no exaggeration that many of them would be dead by now, did they not get the opportunities that they got in those foreign lands.
And while the Kenyan government cannot support it's citizens to break the law in a foreign country, quite diplomacy behind the scenes could be of great help to these Kenyans who are believed to number in the hundreds of thousands. Most are in the United States but many are also in Britain and several European countries and even African nations like neighboring country, Tanzania where they are frequently arrested and jailed for being in the neighboring country illegally. It is of no consequence that the three East African countries are part of a new East African Customs union. Never believe the propaganda you read in the newspapers about East African co-operation, it is just a waste of tax payers money (but that is a story for another day).
Our politicians have no qualms rushing to these illegal immigrants to raise campaign funds for their presidential bids, however the minute that they are safely inside the State House compound their "official view" will be that these Kenyans have broken the law and can therefore receive no help or support from the Kenyan government.
The latest is that the British home office has this week embarked on a crackdown on illegal immigrants in a move that is bound to affect many Kenyans living in that country. Home secretary John Reid is set to launch a drive to deny illegal immigrants essential services and the benefits of living in the United Kingdom. The idea is to ensure that it becomes increasingly difficult for illegals to live in Britain.
It is said that the campaign will include fines of up to £20,000 for landlords who rent properties to illegal immigrants and £5,000 for companies that knowingly employ them. This latest campaign is set to bolster other efforts to keep illegal immigrants out of Britain like increasing the powers of immigration officers in policing the borders as well as a new requirement for compulsory ID cards for foreign nationals seeking to settle in the UK.
The really painful thing about all this, for many Kenyans is the fact that there are many illegal British immigrants currently in Kenya who are treated like royalty here even as they despise locals and behave like the slave trade never ended. Many of them live in plush neighborhoods like Karen and Muthaiga in Nairobi and in Nyali in Mombasa. The same can be said of many other nationals notably Sudanese nationals who operate just like Kenyans and yet recently Kenyan traders were viciously caned (like schoolboys) and deported from Juba when they were seen to be a threat to local traders because of their business acumen and aggressiveness. Then there are Tanzanians who live and operate in Kenya and even frustrated locals with cash earned from mostly illegal activities like drug trafficking and smuggling. And yet many Kenyans continue to languish in Tanzanian jails for being in that country illegally.
The time has come for Kenyans to seek a government that is sensitive to the needs and pains of its' citizens.