The Kenya Diaspora Alliance (KDA) is pushing for establishment of a diaspora office in each county, a move geared towards strengthening devolution in Kenya.
KDA Chair Dr Shem Ochuodho the diaspora office will align itself as another source of foreign income for the particular county.
Ochuodho said this will cut over-reliance on the national government for funding county operations.
“We are already talking to the National government and the devolution ministry to help build systems that support and mobilize funds received from Kenyans abroad to enhance county development,” he told the Star.
He said out of the billions remitted by Kenyans in the diaspora, only 25 per cent of this amount gets to government.
“We are keen to grow that to 30 per cent in the next five years so that more can go into hard investments and savings.”
Diaspora remittance has over the years remained Kenya’s biggest source of foreign exchange besides tourism and horticultural exports.
For example, data by the Central Bank of Kenya shows that in September this year, cash inflows from Kenyans in the diaspora stood at $176.1 million (Sh18.18 billion).
In the same period last year, the cash inflows stood at $143.19 million (Sh14.78 billion). This is a 28.98 per cent increase.
Ochuodho added that government should rethink about formulating policies encouraging Kenyans living in the diaspora to make hard investments back in the country.
“There is no reason why we cannot give incentives to our own people to create opportunities and bring back repatriating their profits,” he said.
“We have made a formal proposal to government that in the next five years we believe diaspora remittance can be doubled.”
Kenyans living in the diaspora are estimated to be around three million.
KDA has a membership of 25, 000 people.
The Chairman said a there should be a structured database to account for all Kenyans living abroad citing, “there is no authoritative data on how many Kenyans there actually are out there and we need to work on that.”