316 KENYANS HAVE DIED WORKING IN GULF STATES SINCE 2002 – MUDAVADI
Musalia Mudavadi, the Prime Cabinet Secretary, revealed a grim statistic about Kenyans working in Gulf States. Since 2002, 316 Kenyans lost their lives in six out of eight countries in the region. He shared this info with the Senate. Saudi Arabia topped the list with 166 deaths. Qatar came second with 58, and the United Arab Emirates followed with 51. Iraq reported 25 fatalities, Bahrain had 10, and Kuwait recorded 6. Oman and Iran didn’t report any deaths of Kenyan workers.
Mudavadi gave the latest numbers on Kenyan workers in Gulf countries, which add up to 416,548 people. Saudi Arabia has the most with 310,266 Kenyans. Qatar comes next with 66,025, and the UAE has 23,000. Bahrain has 8,000 Kenyans Oman 5,392 Kuwait 3,515 Iran 200 and Iraq 150.
He pointed out the problems in figuring out who died because many things make it hard. Some Kenyans don’t sign up with Kenyan offices there. Others move between countries without the right papers. Mudavadi said it’s tough to get exact info even though they try to get Kenyan workers abroad to sign up with their country’s offices.
Kenyans move around a lot between these countries. Mudavadi explained, “We get our numbers from our missions and the local governments. They change often.” He pointed out that many Kenyans don’t sign up with embassies when they go abroad, which makes it tough to keep track of everyone.
Also Mudavadi said it’s important for Kenyans to register. He told Kenyans working in Gulf countries to reach out to their embassies or consulates if they need help. His words showed how hard it is to keep an eye on Kenyans living overseas. People move around a lot and don’t always follow the rules about signing up with embassy
