Kenya's Ambassador to the US Robinson Githae Responds to Claims of Extorting Kenyans in the Diaspora

Kenya's ambassador to the United States Robinson Njeru Githae has refuted claims of extorting Kenyans in the diaspora. 

Responding to allegations that the embassy was overcharging Kenyans in the US for consular services such as application for renewal of passports and identity cards, the envoy said the extra charges are “associated with logistics.” 

The diplomat said the allegations are meant to destroy the good reputation of the Kenya's embassy in Washington DC, terming them as baseless.

“The information circulating around on social media has no basis in facts. The information has been manipulated to make it look like the embassy is charging more than it’s required when it comes to ID issuance but the reality is, the seemingly extra charges are those associated with logistics,” he said.

“The embassy does not have enough manpower to send out to different cities and that’s the reason we engage the services of other groups in specific cities,” the envoy told a Kenyan scholars’ conference in Atlanta on Saturday.

A section of Kenyans in the US took to social media to express their displeasure over the extra fees charged for the services by the embassy. They claimed that Mr Githae and the embassy was for instance charging $150 (Sh15,000) for an identity card instead of the normal $45 (Sh4,500).

One of them said that Kenyans living in Kansas were asked to raise at least Sh6 million for the embassy officials to travel to the city to issue the vital documents on October 6th and 7th failure to which the event would be cancelled. Kenyan Parents in USA, a Kenyan Diaspora group, will be hosting the exercise.

In a similar exercise recently held in Atlanta, many Kenyans said they were charged almost double the fee.

“In addition, there is a large number of diaspora who cannot travel to DC or even anywhere else as they lack travel papers," Githae told Kenya News Satellite

"It is our duty and responsibility to assist and help this group of Kenyan diaspora,” said Githae.