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| Africa: East |
| Kenya picks up Zimbabwe’s baton: Thousands of Britons expelled |
| 2003-10-29 |
| Thousands of Britons are facing banishment from Kenya following the announcement by President Mwai Kibaki’s government yesterday that it would expel two-thirds of the country’s expatriate workforce. Some continents never seem to learn... British businessmen and economists denounced the decision, which will force out more than 16,000 of Kenya’s 25,352 working expatriates, along with their families. Between 30,000 and 50,000 Britons live in Kenya, more than half of whom are thought to be British Asians, prompting comparisons with Idi Amin’s expulsion of Asians from Uganda in 1972. I have a British Asian friend whose family were booted from Tanzania back in the 70s. Father’s a consultant on third-world agricultural research, mother’s a maths teacher, she and her sister are medical doctors. Now how many countries need losers like that? "This is a racist and economically suicidal move by the government," one British businessman said. "What is the difference between this and what Idi Amin did or what Robert Mugabe is doing?" Um... this time there’s no pleading ignorance of the inevitable consequences? Aware of the damaging publicity a mass exodus would cause, the government said the expulsion would be implemented over the next two years. "It’s racist stupidity, but that doesn’t mean we have to rush." "It will not be a blanket removal," said Ali Mwakwere, the labour minister. "The process has already begun, but we are honouring existing work permits until they expire." Mr Mwakwere said he would target skilled and semi-skilled foreigners in the manufacturing industry, many of whom are Asians from Britain and the Indian sub-continent. Asian-dominated commerce is also in the sights of the minister, whose ruling will be welcomed by poor, nationalist Kenyans. "Quite "So what, if they don’t have the skills or experience to run a hotel?!". Under Kenyan law, an expatriate whose two-year work permit is not renewed must leave the country with his family within two months. Missionaries have won an exemption and the government has promised that senior managerial and technical staff at multinational companies will be allowed to stay. How very generous. Despite those promises some British businesses say they have already had work permit applications for technical staff rejected. Several British schools were threatened with closure when permits for expatriate teachers were rejected. An appeal by the British Government and by cabinet ministers whose children are educated in the private system won the schools a reprieve. British businessmen welcomed Kenya’s attempts to root out foreigners who had illegally acquired work permits from corrupt officials in the previous government of Daniel arap Moi. But they said a number of technical specialists had been refused permission to remain, although they were in roles that could not be filled by local people. Economists said the expulsion order was completely at odds with the president’s appeals to multinational companies to invest in Kenya and revive the flagging economy. And so it starts again... |
| Posted by:Bulldog |
| #15 Link. (Does it work? It worked in the preview) |
| Posted by: Bomb-a-rama 2003-10-29 2:56:02 PM |
| #14 Here's a perfect example. Does anyone think that the spread of polio is a GOOD thing? |
| Posted by: Bomb-a-rama 2003-10-29 2:51:16 PM |
| #13 I agree w/B-A-R on cutting Africa loose. That will be a money pit. OP - took the words outta my mouth about our southern border. A-holes in D.C. as well as elected officials (McCain for one) need to put an end to the border madness. It is treason. GWB has also not done enough in my opinion to stop this. |
| Posted by: Jarhead 2003-10-29 1:43:47 PM |
| #12 Whatever your gripes about the US government's lax border security, Catherine, there's no excuse whatsoever for your astonishingly racist remarks regarding non-black communities in East Africa. The people of Uganda did not ask thousands of Asians to move there. They were held powerless while the British played with their demographics. When you talk of East African "Asians" you're refering to people of whom the majority have lived there all their lives. How the hell could you justify removing a person by force from a country they were born in, and expect them to find refuge somewhere else, simply because you think that their presence upsets your idea of "cultural unity"? Then the world called Ugandans "racist" when they kicked the Asians out. Well, I wonder why? You know, Hitler did a very similar thing. I think he was called racist too. Actually, the Ugandans chose cultural unity (such as it is) to economic and technologic progress. Much to the benefit of countries, like the UK and the US, not run by xenophobic dictators. Economically, that hurt them. But it was their choice. And it was Germany's choice to get rid of the Jews, Slavs and Gypsies. And no one else's business? Kenyans today are willing to suffer economic set backs to preserve national identity. Kicking out Brits and Asians will hurt their economy, but they have seen Uganda's loss, and want to go ahead anyway. Like most African nations, Kenya already has tribal divisions. Maybe they don't need race divsions on top of that. Do you know anything about East African cultural history?! The Swahili coast has been one of the most culturally mixed regions in the world. African, Arabian, European, and Asian peoples have mixed, traded, colonised and assimilated there over millennia. Do I need to point out that, genetically, there is more racial diversity on the continent of Africa than there is in the rest of the world? You may not like being over run with Mexican migrants, a situation FUBAR'd by government weaknesses, but that's no justification for advocating the horrific racist insanity which threatens to ravage yet another African state. |
| Posted by: Bulldog 2003-10-29 1:07:38 PM |
| #11 Some passing comments, part on the article, part on the response: 1. Steve, if you need help, I'll gladly volunteer. I have no money, but I'm a fair typist, and I KNOW how the government demands everything in 26 copies, with no errors (and certainly don't correct the errors in THEIR documents - or even comment on them - hypocrites!). We should always be willing to allow those people willing and able to not only support themselves, but to contribute to our overall society, entry into this nation. Especially when they're being kicked out of another for such blatantly arbitrary reasons. 2. The total failure of our government to adequately patrol our southern border is tatamount to treason, and some people should hang for it. The people responsible for this are mostly in Washington, hidden behind layers of bureaucracy in the State Department, in Interior, and even in the new Homeland Security department. It will eventually lead to civil war in the southwest as two radically different and diametrically opposed cultures clash. We don't need that. We'll win, unless the Mexicans get TONS of outside help - including military intervention - but it will distract us from the REAL clash of civilizations RE the Islamofascists (the "Shariah law is the only law" moonbat crowd that can only be stopped by being totally destroyed). The way it looks to me, we've been at war since the early 1950's, will continue to be at war for at least another century, and most Americans are totally clueless. We need to first weed out the traitors among us, then stop the idiots imposing upon us from without - regardless of who they are (Hear that, France????). |
| Posted by: Old Patriot 2003-10-29 12:30:17 PM |
| #10 Catherine: This is only anecdotal, but it's been my experience that my friends who are (relatively) recent immigrants are the most American people I know, at least in terms of their outlook on life. They don't want to be multicultural and establish a Little New Delhi on the banks of the Kokosing (or a Little Mogadishu in Cleveland, or New Shanghai by Lake Erie, and so on)--hell, they moved here to get away from all that! |
| Posted by: Mike 2003-10-29 12:28:51 PM |
| #9 B-A-R - Here's a Kim du Toit article on Afria that echoes your comments - and he certainly knows Africa first-hand... http://www.kimdutoit.com/dr/essays/essays.php?id=P82 |
| Posted by: .com 2003-10-29 12:26:17 PM |
| #8 Catherine - This is not a criticism, but an observation: from 90,000 feet we see Govt policies and their effects. Individuals, however, usualy don't know anything about it - they get a job offer that beats what they can make at home and take a great chance in a foreign land. If things work out as advertised - not always the case - they work hard and send the money home - and many suffer amazing levels of isolation and loneliness for the duration. The host society determines whether this happens - or not. They are pawns - all judgements should be with the policy makers - not the workers. This even applies to the employers - it takes corruption in Govt to have collusion with greedy employers. I have a very schizophrenic (50% ultra-liberal and 50% ultra-conservative) opinion about US immigration - but I'll spare you. Hell, I'd prolly get roasted for it, anyway, cuz people don't read and absorb the entirety before reacting. Thanx for your comments! |
| Posted by: .com 2003-10-29 12:18:39 PM |
| #7 Actually, I have some sympathy with ex-colonies like Uganda which wanted to deport people from other cultures, brought there by their colonial masters. I also sympathize with people who don't want the foreign workers brought in by their own governments. The people of Uganda did not ask thousands of Asians to move there. They were held powerless while the British played with their demographics. Then the world called Ugandans "racist" when they kicked the Asians out. Actually, the Ugandans chose cultural unity (such as it is) to economic and technologic progress. Economically, that hurt them. But it was their choice. Kenyans today are willing to suffer economic set backs to preserve national identity. Kicking out Brits and Asians will hurt their economy, but they have seen Uganda's loss, and want to go ahead anyway. Like most African nations, Kenya already has tribal divisions. Maybe they don't need race divsions on top of that. Our American elite has decided to throw away American cultural unity and allow tens of millions of Third World people to pour in. Following simple supply-and-demand rules, these millions of new, mostly uneducated workers have been a big factor in the large decrease in working class salaries since the 1970s (at a time when all economists projected massive salary increases for the working class). Worse, the elite celebrates our growing cultural disunity ("multiculturalism")and lectures us incessantly about our racism for wanting a united, traditional American culture. Meanwhile, Mexicans and other folk brag about how their cultures and languages are going to dominate our border states. Here in the border states, we feel like a colony of the federal government, to do with whatever they wish as regards to demographics. Meanwhile, the wealthy get low-wage servile emloyees, and the welfare bureaucrats get an unending supply of new clients. |
| Posted by: Catherine 2003-10-29 11:26:36 AM |
| #6 I say let Africa go, and allow it to clean itself out. If they fancy themselves a better judge at fixing what ails them, then they can have a go at it. On their own, of course. |
| Posted by: Bomb-a-rama 2003-10-29 11:10:18 AM |
| #5 I have a British Asian friend whose family were booted from Tanzania back in the 70s. Father’s a consultant on third-world agricultural research, mother’s a maths teacher, she and her sister are medical doctors. Now how many countries need losers like that? Send them to America. If they need any help, I'll be proud and happy to be a sponsor. |
| Posted by: Steve White 2003-10-29 11:09:23 AM |
| #4 Frank G, Not any that will to have any effect. Zimbabwe is only suspended, pending a demonstrated renewed respect for humanity, and I don't think that Bobsland had economic sanctions imposed on her. The dire economic consequences of all this will be entirely self-imposed. They'll be receiving international aid in a couple of years... |
| Posted by: Bulldog 2003-10-29 10:03:42 AM |
| #3 Funny, this is not what I would call new - it's called Saudization and has been in progress for more than 10 years in LalaLand. But it does differ in 2 ways: 1) Kenya doesn't print money via oil exports and can't hire back that ExPat as a contractor to do the same work while the 2) Saudi doesn't have a tourist industry - yet. It appears, to my amazement, that there is a type of barking moonbat who yearns to see The Empty Quarter. I guess Lawrence of Arabia lives! I empathize with the Brits who are being displaced - and anyone who doesn't get it lacks much in the way of imagination - it sucks to have your plans crushed without warning or immediately apparent alternatives. That's why I left Saudi back in '93 - my job title was handed to a connected Saudi twit who could barely log into the system - and I refused to be his flunky. |
| Posted by: .com 2003-10-29 9:44:14 AM |
| #2 Bulldog: what, if any, Commonwealth status consequences will this have? trade or financial? |
| Posted by: Frank G 2003-10-29 9:42:13 AM |
| #1 "We are looking at anywhere where a foreigner is doing a job a Kenyan could be doing," he said. But isn't qualified. "We have well-qualified tour guides and so on who are out of a job." Hmmm. They churn out tour guides, but not skilled workers. Great economic plan. Must be one of Mugabe's. |
| Posted by: Spot 2003-10-29 5:04:23 AM |