NAIROBI – Opposition leaders Musalia Mudavadi of ANC, Senator Moses Wetang’ula and Narc-Kenya’s Martha Karua have criticised Kenya’s embassy in China for asking stranded Kenyans to pay for their evacuation.
Wetang’ula, who also served as Kenya’s Foreign Affairs Minister from 2008 to 2010 and from 2011 to 2012 said Kenya should dispatch a KQ plane to China and pay for it from Covid-19 Emergency Fund.
“Our embassy in China a big let down. You can’t offer distressed Kenyans an evacuation at their cost! Arrange a KQ plane to lift our people. Pay from the Covid-19 fund,” the Bungoma senator said.
He evoked memories during President Mwai Kibaki’s administration when they evacuated Kenyans from South Africa.
“President Kibaki ordered us to evacuate Kenyans from South Africa when they faced xenophobic attacks and we did,” Wetang’ula said on Saturday.
On his part, ANC party leader said asking distraught Kenyans in China to pay for their tickets home and Covid-19 tests is unacceptable.
“We have quarantine centres for that. The government announced that over Sh1 billion has been raised for the Covid-19 fund. Surely part of that money can be used to evacuate our people,” Mudavadi said on Twitter.
In addition, the former Vice President called on African states to address the inhumane situations facing Africans in China amid Covid-19 pandemic.
” It’s a wake up call. Our investment on priority areas especially health in Africa is wanting,” Mudavadi added.
Mudavadi had earlier also expressed dismay about the predicament of Kenyan citizens living in China, and elsewhere in the world.
“This is an imperative that the government must address with all the urgency it deserves,” he said on April 12.
Nark Kenya Party leader Martha Karua also wondered why Kenyans stranded in China would be required to pay for their travel.
“How can your country give you conditions to return home? Karua posed.
The leaders were reacting to communication by Kenya’s embassy in Beijing, asking Kenyans willing to be evacuated at own cost in wake of attacks to file their details with the mission.
