By Diaspora Insurance News
“It is not possible for us to repatriate every single body; we don’t have that kind of money,” a senior Kenyan government official recently told a meeting with Diasporans based in the United Kingdom while urging them to take up funeral insurance with private companies.
Roseline K. Njogu, the Principal for Diaspora Affairs in the Ministry of Foreign and Diaspora Affairs, was responding to questions at a mobile consular service event organised by the Kenya High Commission held in the West Midlands city of Coventry.
“Every day, since I became Principal Secretary, I have received a request for repatriation of the body of a loved one or a distressed case of someone who is stranded somewhere; every day,” she told the meeting which was also attended by Kenya’s High Commissioner to the UK, His Excellence, Manoah Esipisu.
“We are (therefore) asking diasporans that, wherever you are, please, please, take out some form of insurance. It is not possible for us to repatriate every single body; we don’t have that kind of money.
“Where we have some very dire situations; very dire cases, we are able to step in … in a small way … when things are completely impossible … but it might take some time and it will not be (covering) everything.”
Ms Njogu challenged Kenyans in the UK to emulate compatriots in Rwanda who have established a successful funeral insurance scheme with a local private company.
“Kenyans in Rwanda have taken insurance with a local company that allows them whenever a Kenyan dies in Rwanda to be able to send the body back home without the need for mchango (appeals for financial contributions),” she explained.
International labour migration
“You are a much larger community; the official number (of Kenyans in the UK) is 132,000 … you know you’re more than that … so, take out insurance and then that problem (of repatriations) can be solved.”
Ms Njogu and the embassy team also held a meeting with Diaspora Insurance CEO executive Jeff Madzingo who was accompanied by the company’s East Africa corridor director Bernard Kavyu.
Based in the UK, Diaspora Insurance offers a bespoke funeral cash plan policy covering the diaspora communities of some 13 Africa countries (including Kenya) across Europe, the Americas and Australasia.
Meanwhile, Ms Njogu also revealed that the Kenyan government has since banned labour migration to some countries including Lebanon.
She was responding to questions about immigration authorities in Kenya blocking people from leaving the country even when they had valid entry visas for their destinations.
“One of the big problems that we have with international labour migration is trafficking and, so, sometimes people will have valid visas but won’t be allowed to leave,” she explained.
“We had Kenyans leaving daily going to Lebanon and, recently, we had to pay for the return a plane-load of Kenyans from that country.
“We have now imposed a ban on labour migration to Lebanon because there are no job opportunities there and we (also) had problems with trafficking.”
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