Coast billionaire Suleiman Shahbal has opened up on how the Chinese humiliated him in Kenya, while also explaining why Africans were to blame for being mistreated in China.
On Tuesday, April 28, through his social media pages, Shahbal narrated how he underwent a thorough procedure while applying to travel to China, as opposed to how the Chinese nationals are allowed to easily access African nations.
The tycoon argued that Africans take too much disrespect from other countries and that is why Kenyans are abused abroad.
"Early November last year (2019), I applied for a tourist visa to China. They demanded a certificate of good conduct from the police attested by our Foreign Affairs ministry and signed by the Chinese embassy, an invitation letter from a Chinese travel agency, proof that I had paid for my hotel stay in China, six months bank statements and an itinerary of my trip among other demands. I asked 'supposing we pay for the hotel stay and then have to cancel?' (Which I did because of the Coronavirus pandemic). 'That’s not our problem,' came the retort. I felt humiliated, and so did the other Kenyans who were applying.
"Meanwhile, Chinese nationals apply online and get their visas stamped on arrival at the airport. I left the visa centre furious. Outside, I met a senior Kenyan government official and complained to him. He suggested I apply for a Kenyan diplomatic passport. But, what about the thousands of other Kenyans who want to travel to China? Therein lies our problem," Shahbal disclosed while affirming that the situation has to change and Africans can make the change.
The business magnate offered what he dubbed a practical solution to the menace, arguing that there existed two problems that needed to be resolved. A shortfall of embassy funding and African countries speaking individually (No support from each other).
"Kenya has 54 embassies and consulates but most of them do not have adequate funding to run them, let alone help stranded Kenyans. Some ambassadors will go the extra mile to assist, while some won’t. Practical solutions exist. There are about four million Kenyans abroad, all with passports. Locally, one million Kenyans hold passports. I have long proposed that every Kenyan should be charged $50 (Kshs 5,350) for insurance along with the passport application. Every year we have another one million passport renewals.
"Had we applied this, the government would have had a starting kitty of $200 million (Ksh21 billion) and roughly $50 million (Ksh5 billion) in renewals every year. If you can afford Ksh 4,600 for a passport, you can afford another Ksh 5,000 for insurance for the five years validity of your passport. No Kenyan abroad would have suffered the way they do now. Government officials have come up with every bureaucratic excuse imaginable, but we must do this now," Shahbal advised.
He also wondered why a docket for diaspora has never been established, yet Kenya generates an average of Ksh 300 billion every year from the diaspora.
"We have all heard the story that “diaspora remittances exceed proceeds from tourism, tea and coffee”. The big question is; how come we have a ministry for agriculture and for tourism but not one for the diaspora?
"Sorry, but this will now decrease and those who sent us this money will soon come for help. What will we offer them? The feeble excuse that they did not go abroad with the government’s approval? Did we ever ask whether they had government approval when we welcomed their remittances? The World Bank numbers that the government is not talking about is that Kenyans abroad bring back only 5 per cent of their disposable income. If we made any real effort, we could incentivise them to invest at least 50 per cent of that disposable income here," he explained.
Shahbal went on to argue that heaping pressure on Kenyans abroad to facilitate their own travel back home was absurd.
"Post-Covid, Kenya will desperately need that money to rebuild its economy. Our diaspora feels like a cash cow that has run out of milk and is now abandoned. Demanding that Kenyans who are stranded and in serious problems pay for their own fare back home is cruel.
"It is difficult to demand much when you hold a begging bowl. Therefore we must act collectively through the African Union. They can ignore Kenyan protests, but they cannot ignore the whole of Africa. It is tempting to demand that we do to the Chinese here what they do to our people there, but then two wrongs do not make a right – and furthermore, the Chinese government does not care about their people," the politician proclaimed.
