High Court permits Kenya Diaspora Alliance (KDA) to refile to be enjoined as Interested Party in the Okiya Omtatah Vs Republic matter on Diaspora Voting.
The Kenya Diaspora Alliance (KDA) was allowed by the High Court to file for the (re-) application to be admitted as an Interested Party in the petition filed by Okiya Omtatah on the matter of Diaspora Voting as a civic right for all Kenyans abroad.
Among other matters, the petition challenges the restriction and/or prohibition of the use of the Kenya National Identity Cards of Kenyans in the Diaspora voter registration as unconstitutional because it disenfranchises Kenyans living in the Diaspora, and effectively limits them from exercising their constitutional right to be registered as Kenyan Voters and participate in the Presidential General Elections.
In other news, KDA lauds the elevation of the Diaspora to the ministry level and plans to enable all diasporas to register to vote in future elections. This was confirmed by the global Chair, Dr. Shem Ochuodho in an interview on Radio Citizen after Kenyan Diaspora lauded the new president’s launch of the Ministry of Diaspora Affairs, which is expected to cater to their affairs. In his speech, he mentioned that Kenyans will start seeing big changes, not just in remittances, but in economic diplomacy, knowledge, and skills transfer as well. The diaspora has long desired to be acknowledged by our home government. This is with the view of developing the nation as well as being economically and politically involved as Kenyans. With their remittances exceeding all foreign aid received by the country, the Diaspora want to be acknowledged as citizens with rights to involvement in developmental, economic, and political affairs. Their voting representation is a paltry percentage of their total population with only 12 out of 127+ possible nations where they reside, yet they are directly affected by issues that happen back at home. Kenya has more than 3 million diasporas, with the highest number residing in the US alone (600,000). Almost the same number live and work in other African countries. They are credited with keeping things afloat during the pandemic as remittances back home grew within that period.
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