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Why 44 Kenyans are still stranded in Myanmar
Multinational victims of scam centres, who were trafficked into working in Myanmar and were sent to Thailand, wait for their embassies to pick them up, in Tak province, Thailand February 19, 2025.
What you need to know:
- Labour and Social Protection, Principal Secretary Joseph Motari said the 44 had reported to the Kenyan Embassy in Thailand.
- Last year, Mr Mudavadi told the Senate that the government had set aside Sh100 million to evacuate Kenyans who wanted to return home.
Some 44 Kenyans are still stranded in Myanmar and Thailand as a result of budget cuts to the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection, Principal Secretary Joseph Motari has told a parliamentary committee.
Appearing before the Social Protection Committee on the 2025 Budget Policy Statement (BPS), Mr Motari told lawmakers that the 44 had reported to the Kenyan Embassy in Thailand and were ready to return.
“We are told that there are still Kenyans in Myanmar languishing there without jobs. We are working closely with the ministry of foreign and diaspora affairs to bring them back home,” Mr Motari said.
The PS told the committee chaired by Thika Town MP Alice Ng'ang'a that budget cuts in the 2025 BPS now threaten to stall the process of bringing the Kenyans home.
Mr Motari said under his project to implement the Kenya Anti Trafficking in Persons (ACT) within and outside Kenya, they need Sh80 million but in the 2025/2026 financial year as contained in the BPs, they have been allocated only Sh20 million.
"This leaves us with a shortfall of Sh60 million and you know this is the money we use for things like bringing home Kenyans stuck outside the country," Mr Motari told the committee.
"We are told by those who have come back that there are still many Kenyans there without the jobs they went for. We are using this money to bring home Kenyans lured by jobs," he added.
Last year, Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi told the Senate that the government had set aside Sh100 million to evacuate Kenyans who wanted to return home.
At the time, Mudavadi said there were an estimated 26,000 Kenyans in the Middle Eastern country and 7,119 had registered for evacuation.
"The government is deeply concerned about the safety of our citizens abroad, especially at this time of crisis. We are doing everything possible to ensure that all Kenyans in the affected areas are safely evacuated if the situation deteriorates," Mudavadi told parliament.
In August, the country announced that 75 victims of human trafficking had been repatriated. They included 10 Ugandans and one Burundian.
Those rescued reported being forced to work long hours without pay. The majority of those trafficked were women under the age of 35.
More than 7,000 Kenyans remain stranded in Lebanon amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, who agreed a ceasefire in Gaza last month.