Audio By Vocalize

Busia Senator Okiya Omutata has challenged the government to come clean on the disturbing issue of Kenyans dying for Russia on the war frontlines in Ukraine, demanding to know whether the Kazi Majuu programme was a plot to recruit Kenyans into Russia’s war.

The Senator also wondered why the government has not given the matter the priority that it deserves, threatening to sue the State through a class suit on behalf of the victims.

“We know how these people(recruits) have gone out, and they and their families also want the government itself to come clean. There was a time when the Minister for Labour Alfred Mutua addressed the media and said there were very many jobs in Russia they had secured and the Kenyans were being taken to Russia to do those jobs,” said Omutata.

He added, “We want to know at least the jobs they took Kenyans to do. The silence of the government and the dragging of feet over the issue is indicative of complicity in the mess. And until and unless they can clear themselves by showing us who took these Kenyans there, I personally believe that this is an aspect where the Kenyan government is complicit with the underworld and some nefarious forces to traffic out Kenyans.”

Kazi Majuu slogan (slang for jobs in foreign countries) is a government initiative launched in June 2023 by the Kenya Kwanza administration to facilitate employment of Kenyan youth in foreign countries.

Omutata said this when he addressed the media in his office in Upper Hill after meeting some of the families who are seeking repatriation of their kin who were recruited to Russia, as some ask about the bodies of their dead relatives.

They had come to follow up on the petition they lodged recently with Parliament, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and other government agencies.

Omutata said the matter is not something to fit into the calendar of the Prime Cabinet Secretary, Foreign Affairs CS Musalia Mudavadi, who is due to travel to Moscow at the end of the week.

“This is an issue that should drive the agenda of the government because Kenyans are involved. This procrastination of issues is not helping. The silence of government and the dragging of feet over the issue is indicative of complicity,” said Omutata.

So far, a man considered the main suspect in running agencies recruiting Kenyans, Festus Omwamba, has been charged. The man is said to have presented himself to investigative authorities, claiming that Russian agents were after his life.

The Senator said the Constitution in Article 235 -238 clause 1 is very clear about national security, which includes protecting the welfare of Kenyans and not just the territorial integrity of Kenya.

He wondered why the government had not summoned the Russian ambassador to Kenya, Vsevolod Tkachenko and told the country what has been happening to Kenyans.

“Same to Ukraine, we should be able to know if there are people in Ukrainian prisons, in Ukrainian graves or hospitals. We need to be told,” he said.

In a recent report of the National Intelligence Service tabled in the National Assembly, 1,000 Kenyans were recruited to fight for Russia in Ukraine. Majority Leader Kimani Ichung’wa, on February 18, told the house that by last month, 89 Kenyans were actively fighting for Russia in Ukraine, 39 were hospitalised with injuries from the war, 28 are missing in action, 35 have been deployed to military camps in Russia and one is detained, while another has completed the contract.

Ichung’wa also said there has been collusion involving officials from the Directorate of Immigration Services, the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI), the Anti-Narcotics Unit (ANU) and employees at both the Russian Embassy in Nairobi and the Kenyan Embassy in Moscow in the recruitment process.

Omutata threatened to sue the State through a class suit, saying the country has failed in its mandate to protect its citizens as per Article 238, clause 1.

“So I plead with the government to prioritise this issue and to see that they execute their duty of care. Failure to which I think we are also considering a class action suit against the state to get declarations that the government has failed to protect the interests of these Kenyans and to get guidance from the judiciary on what will need to be done and to hold individual Kenyans who are holding these offices culpable,” he said.

He added: “And upon that, it is possible to file a lawsuit even demanding compensation for these families because as a duty bearer of the State, it has failed to guarantee, first of all, the Bill of Rights.  You cannot be subjected to servitude. So if you are taken and put into a fighting force against your will, that is being subjected to forced labour or servitude,” said Omutata.

The Senator wondered why the government has not summoned the Russian ambassador to Kenya to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to shed light on the issue.

He disputed the claim that Russia does not deter any foreign national who wants to join its army voluntarily.

“I think that is not true, for any foreign country to recruit Kenyans, there has to be a formal agreement with the Kenyan government, just like the recent Haiti mission, because the law does not allow militia or mercenaries recruitment. So it’s not a question of willing seller, willing buyer,” he said.

Peter Kimani, a representative of the families demanding repatriation of their loved ones, either alive or dead, said so far 67 families have lodged a complaint of the loss of their loved ones recruited to Russia.