Matiang'i Angered after Foreigner Seeks Renewal of Work Permit for a Construction Site Manager Job [VIDEO]

Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i was on Thursday captured on camera expressing his anger after coming eye to eye with a foreigner who was renewing his work permit in the recently launched verification exercise by his ministry.

The foreigner, an Indian citizen had come to Nyayo House in Nairobi to renew his work permit as a manager in a construction site. In a video clip that has since gone viral online,  Matiang'i is seen questioning two Indian men on how they managed to acquire a permit to work in Kenya as manager for a construction site, a job that can be done by a Kenyan.

“You are given a work permit to be a mere site manager? You think no Kenyan can manage a site? just a site manager of a construction site? that I will not agree to,” Matiang'i tells two men of Asian origin.

“These things really annoy me, let me tell you, we cannot work like this. Tuache hiimchezo bwana mimi I don't like this..."

"Tunapea Mhindi akuje kufanya kazi kwaconstruction site, kukaa tu chini nakuangalia mjengo?.....Why should we hire Asian at a construction site as if there are no Kenyans to do such work? Matiangi appeared to pose the question to an Immigration officer.

The registration and verification exercise, which was launched on Monday, aims at digitizing the work permit database for expatriates working in the country.

“Give me one reason why we need to give a permit to someone coming to be an accountant in Kenya or in the case of civil society, why give a permit to a programme officer with the number of graduates who have Masters degrees,” Matiang’i said last month.

“The monkey business era in this department must come to an end. For every work permit issued, we will keep a digital trail of the records and specific officials involved in issuing them to identify who issued a permit,” he said.