Musalia Mudavadi, Prime Cabinet Secretary and current Head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, says that there are over 400,000 Kenyans living in the Gulf States.
According to statistics presented in Parliament, Saudi Arabia hosts 310,266 Kenyans, Qatar 66,025, the UAE 23,000, Bahrain 8,000, Oman 5,392, Kuwait 3,515, Iran 200, and Iraq 150.
Musalia Mudavadi added that, according to the government’s records, the total number of Kenyans who have lost their lives in the Gulf region is 316 in one year.
- Saudi Arabia:166
- Qatar: 58
- United Arab Emirates: 51
- Iraq: 25
- Bahrain: 10
- Kuwait: 6
- Oman: 0
- Iran: 0
Now Kenyans want the government, which has proven without doubt that they are awful at numbers and accountability, to publish a list of all 316. The move will help the thousands crying that their kin have died in the Gulf find a way forward.
Musalia Mudavadi’s assertion about the number of Kenyans in the Gulf States raises questions about the accuracy of these statistics.
Can Kenyans now trust their leaders’ passion for presenting data, or is there a deeper issue of transparency and truthfulness at play?