The Cabinet Secretary for Foreign & Diaspora Affairs Dr. Alfred Mutua has today jetted out of the country on an official visit to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
This is his first external visit as CS of Foreign & Diaspora Affairs, which is in keeping with his promise during his parliamentary vetting interview, where while responding to a question on the issue of Kenyan workers in Saudi Arabia, promised to prioritize it after being sworn into office.
This visit follows his meeting with the Saudi Ambassador H.E. Khalid Abdullah Alsalman last week on October 28, 2022, where they held discussions touching on various issues, central of which was the welfare of Kenyans working in Saudi Arabia.
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The meeting with the Ambassador was followed by a meeting with representatives of employment agents who recruit Kenyans for jobs in Saudi Arabia on October 31, 2022. During that meeting, Dr. Mutua said he would travel to Saudi Arabia to meet with Saudi authorities and the Kenyan Diaspora living and working there, to get first-hand information to assist him in coming up with lasting solutions to their welfare challenges.
The issue of Kenyans suffering and in some cases losing live in Saudi Arabia has elicited strong emotions in the country and all eyes are on the new CS, whose ministry now includes the new diaspora mandate, as they wait to see how he handles this issue.
The reactions to these meetings from Kenyans earlier this week, especially on social media, welcomed the renewed efforts to come up with lasting solutions and remove the stigma that has come to be associated with working in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
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While in Saudi Arabia, Dr. Mutua will also explore other issues of interest to our country including various forms of direct & indirect investments, export market opportunities, and other forms of bilateral trade, as part of his intention of increasing Kenya’s inflows from the diaspora from the current 400Billion to over 1Trillion shillings per year.
After his visit to Saudi Arabia, Dr. Mutua will travel to Munster, Germany to attend the G7 Foreign Ministers meeting that will take place on Friday 4th November 2022.
The CS will provide an update on Kenya’s role in promoting regional peace and security. He will also seek partnerships that will promote the Government’s agenda of empowering medium and small-scale enterprises.