Mudavadi urges Parliament to allocate budget for Kenyans in trouble abroad

Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi has stated that it is the responsibility of the National Assembly to provide the Ministry of Foreign Affairs with the funds necessary to assist Kenyans who find themselves in trouble  in foreign countries.

Mudavadi said that the government should not be pressured to allocate funds for the rescue of individuals involved in unlawful activities overseas, especially when such resources have not been included in the budget.

“We as the government are being pressured by the society when it was the parliament that had the answer. Kenyan society needs to become cognizant of this and we communicate to our Kenyans so that we don’t face further embarrassment as a government when in reality it was the Parliament that had a say on the resources,” said Mudavadi.

Speaking during question time at the National Assembly yesterday, Mudavadi highlighted the need for Parliament to allocate resources to enable the Government of Kenya to assist Kenyans who have found themselves on the wrong side of the law in various countries.

“It was a constitutional obligation to safeguard Kenyans everywhere and it was therefore important for the parliament to do resource allocation to help the government intervene for the Kenyans in the diaspora,” he stated.

The Prime Cabinet Secretary noted that there are over 1,000 Kenyans incarcerated in different countries for various reasons, ranging from misdemeanours to serious offences.

“To the innocence or guilt of the individuals who are in this particular question, I just want to we all must be vigilant on this. We will nevertheless take up the matters again with our missions and see what more can be done to assist in enabling Kenyans to have access to legal support so that they can be able to deal with his challenges,” Mudavadi said.

He stressed that it is not the government’s desire to see its nationals suffering in foreign prisons, and he acknowledged the need for a collective effort from leaders to inform especially the youth.

“We have a demographic where the young people are the ones who are facing this interruption and they constitute 70percent and they are not informed about the consequences. It is our collective responsibility to start conveying messages of awareness to our young people in all our constituencies in the country, that they should be cautious, because getting into trouble there can be very painful. You can be isolated,” said Mudavadi