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Wake up to the Reality, Kibaki tells Kenyans in Diaspora

Kenyan president, Mwai Kibaki (center) shortly after arriving at a reception dinner with Kenyans in the US at Hotel Helmsley in New York. The president was in the country leading a Kenyan delegation to the UN General Assembly last week. To the left of the president is Beth Mugo, Minister of public health and sanitation, to the right is Prof.Sam Ongeri, minister for education and Dr. Naomi Shaban, minister of state, special programmes. M.Mathenge/Ajabu Images

Story and pics by Moses Mathenge, Ajabu Africa News , Posted September 26, 2010

NEW YORK, NY_Kenyans in the Diaspora who are aspiring to return to their motherland to get prime jobs are in for a rude shock; they are not that badly missed there!

Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki has indicated that jobs back home have to be competed for and no special consideration will be accorded to any particular group of people including Kenyans living abroad.

The president made the revelation when addressing more than 500 Kenyans last week at a dinner in New York after attending the just concluded UN General Assembly meeting where he had led the Kenyan government delegation.

“Those of you who want to return, you’re welcome. But if you want to stay here, stay and keep sending money home,” said President Kibaki, amusing hundreds of Kenyans who had gathered from different states for the annual event.

He said that the situation in Kenya today is very different from the days that older Kenyans like him were coming to the west. He said there are more learned professionals in Kenya already than the available jobs.

“We therefore have to give top priority to people already there. Times have changed. Be sensible, send us money and we employ people who are there,” he added.

Kenyans in the US soak in words of tough love as they listen to their president during a reception dinner at Hotel Helmsley in New York last week.

He urged Kenyans in the Diaspora to study and consider seriously the developments that are going on in Kenya, saying that “We are not only developing the country but the greater East African region in general”.

He referred to Kenya as country that is friendly to all its neighbors.

The president singled out the ongoing projects like the road connecting southern Ethiopia to the coastal town of Lamu and the development of the Lamu port as key elements that will spur development in the region.

Kibaki said that since independence in 1963, the country had made a lot of progress in many areas including education, agriculture, commerce and infrastructure. He said more of that development is being witnessed in the rural areas.

He revealed that his greatest joy in office is when he visits some of the constituencies that were under-developed but have now recorded tremendous development.

The president added that he foresees a situation in Kenya where the country will have more primary schools in the near future than can be used.

Kibaki praised the current participation by women and children in the decision making process in the country for the purposes of nation building, a domain that was largely held by men.

He gave a testimony of a village he visited and had a chat with some school kids. “Some of these school kids ask very advanced questions,” said the president.

Kibaki assured Kenyans in the Diaspora, that with the new Kenyan constitution and the streamlining of the government, Kenya has pumped a lot of resources to the rural areas to open them up, and communication channels have been opened up at the village level where ideas and views can now be put forward so that Kenyans can suggest areas they feel should be addressed.

Prof. Sam Ongeri engages Kenyans in a discussion after the president's speech

“Rural development is the topic of discussion in Kenya today and it’s a great joy. I assure you that today there is no constituency that has been left behind,” said the president.

He summed it up by saying that he was happy to be with Kenyans in the Diaspora and thanked them for what they have done back home, encouraging them to do more.

The president elicited laughter when he sarcastically referred to members of the judiciary in Kenya as “Learned people” who are anxious to be well paid yet not doing as much as the public expects them to. He urged them to “stop talking and start working”.

Kibaki answered several questions from Kenyans present with one Kenyan putting it to the president that, “we would like to see more done on the issue of resettling internally displaced people”.

IDP’s are persons who lost their homes and property when tribal violence broke out after the 2007 disputed general elections.

Responding to the comments by the president, various Kenyans interviewed by Ajabu Africa.com agreed with the president that things are not the same anymore back in Jamhuri land.

“If you have not gone there of late, you will be shocked when you get there,” said Wifred Wachiuri of Bradford, Mass.

The roads being constructed are even much better than those in America which has made property values to climb up rapidly.

”People are increasingly making more money than us here in America, yet they do not work as many hours and overnight shifts like we do,” he added.

An artist's impression of the pangani area of Nairobi as it will be when the current construction going on is completed

Dennis Macharia of Nashua, New Hampshire, who had gone home recently for the burial of his late father, said that he came back to the US stressed about the development he witnessed in Kenya while he barely makes it on a day to day basis here in America.

“People are making money there, man. All my friends are driving big cars that I cannot afford here in America and they don’t work over night shifts and weekends,” said the shocked young man.

“Business is booming there. If you have a great idea, that is the place to be,” added the young man who gives himself only five more years to be in America.

On the dais with the president were cabinet ministers Moses Wetangura of Foreign Affairs, Beth Mugo of Public Health and Sanitation, Prof. Sam Ongeri of education, Wycliff Oparanya, minister of planning,and Dr Naomi Shaban, minister of state, special programmes.

Also in the presidents’ entourage were his son Tony Kibaki, outgoing ambassador to the UN and the incoming one, Mumburi Muita and Josephine Ojiambo respectively as well as the new Kenyan ambassador to the US, H.E. Elkana Odembo.

Kenyan president, Mwai Kibaki is introduced to the Kenyan diplomatic mission staff in the US by the Kenyan ambassador to the US at Washington DC, Elkanah Odembo (partly hidden)

The new Kenyan ambassador to the US at Washington DC, Elkanah Odembo, chats with the Kenyan diplomatic mission staff and other Kenyans lining up for introductions as they wait for the arrival of president Mwai Kibaki

Kenyans line up to greet the president shortly before he arrived at the reception.

Kenyans line up to greet the president shortly before he arrived at the reception.

Out going Kenyan ambasador to the UN ambasador Mumburi Muita, with Monica Juma, the Kenyan ambasador to Ethiopia and Kate Stanley Karuku of Lowell, Mass.