As Kenyans continue to push the government to intervene and assist citizens stranded in China to return home due to surge in racial attacks that have been witnessed in the aftermath of COVID-19 pandemic, Kenyan government is doing the exac t opposite.
Chinese contractors working on road projects in Kapenguria are enjoying a beefed up protection with each worker having up-to two AP officers and a GK landcruizer to combat any possible retaliatory attacks from Kenyans.
A ratio that is way beyond UN’s recommendation of one police officer for every 450 citizens, and also beyond what the government gives its citizens.
Kenyans living in China have been forcibly kicked out of their apartments by Chinese police and thrown on streets where they are exposed to racial abuse and physical mistreatment.
there have been reports that some have had their legal documents taken away from them and left to depend on well wishers for survival as the Kenyan government continues to turn ignore them.
The Foreign Affairs ministry claims to have been writing letters pleading with the Chinese authorities to have mercy on the neglected citizens, most of whom had gone pursue further education in the populous Asian country.
“The first thing they ask for are the documentations. Some police allow you to keep the passport, but others just take it,” said a Kenyan woman in China who requested to remain anonymous.
Kenyansn in Guangdong Province have been the hardest hit and living in constant fear because of the the ill-treatment they facing and they have not committed any crime.
The coronavirus epidemic that is now ravaging the entire globe haas its epicenter in China, Wuhan Province where some Kenyan students have been ignored by the government as other nations across the world rushed to evacuate their citizens to avoid contracting the deadly ‘Chinese virus’.
Despite social media being awash with posts calling on the government attention on the issue with the hashtags #ChinaMustExplain and #BringKenyansInChinaHome trending, the government has maintained its ‘cosmetic approach’ approach on the issue, writing more letters to China and providing ‘excess’ security to chinese prisoners working on rural roads in Kenya.
Narok Senator Ledama ole Kina is record calling on Africa to unite against the coronavirus-fuelled xenophobia in China.
“We are corrupt and broke but we are not children of a lesser God and neither are we stupid,” Ole Kina said.
Th Kenyan Ambassador to China Mrs. Sarah Serem has been ignoring the plight of fellow citizens just like the officials from the Foreign Affairs Ministry.
Foreign Affairs PS Macharia Kamau while addressing the media on tuesday ignored to address the real challenges Kenyans in China are facing and instead gave irrelevant reports about five Kenyans who have lost their to COVID-19 disease in the USA and 160 who are stranded in India due to imposed lockdown.
Mr. Kamau’s presser had no good news for Kenyans as everybody is aware that that the only help the ignored students had received from the government was some Sh1.3 million for up keep.
They did not choose to remain in China but pleaded repeatedly pleaded with the government t evacuate them even before the first case was reported in Kenya.
There is no way the students would choose to remain at the epicenter of the pandemic, and again these are times the government is expected to roll out and impose measures aimed at keeping it’s citizens safe.
Kamau also lauded Serem’s ‘zero work’ as a good one arguing that some people don’t register in foreign countries and only show up at the embassy when there’s a situation like lockdown and puts Kenyan embassy in a difficult position.
The disrupted normalcy brought by the pandemic has exposed the government as one that pleads with the dictatorial Chinese authority.
“We have engaged China bilaterally and regionally as East Africa, saying this is unacceptable. We have also engaged them as a continent through the African Union, saying we will not tolerate racism.” Kamau said.
