The Kenyan government is asking thousands of volunteers and expatriate workers to leave its country immediately.
According to local news reports, the expat workers are taking away jobs from native Kenyans, ultimately putting them in a position of financial hardship, says Hello Beatiful via Quartz Africa.
According to the website, Quartz Africa’s report states:
Over the past few weeks, government regulators have been tapping into this sentiment by criticizing the international NGO community for not hiring Kenyans and paying foreign staff more than local employees. “Kenya doesn’t need your help if the only thing you see here is filth.” Kenya, with its good weather, political stability, and English-speaking population, is a popular destination for aid workers, volunteers, and NGOs. An estimated 12,000 expat NGO workers live in the country working on issues from human rights to maternal health and conservation, according to figures from the NGO Coordination Board, a government body that regulates the sector.
These organizations aren’t contributing as much to the country as they should be, according to the NGO Board. The agency released a circular last month claiming foreign NGO workers of earning on average four times as much as their Kenyan peers. They fail to transfer jobs to local workers, and instead stay on in Kenya as lifelong “career expats,” the regulator said.“You cannot tell me that in the whole country we [do not] have a Kenyan who can fill the space of the expatriate. We have overqualified Kenyans in this country. They need to be given first priority in the NGO sector,” said Fazul Mahamed, head of the NGO Board, at a briefing in Nairobi on June 23. “Wouldn’t this money make better the people of this country?” he said.