Why Kenya treads carefully on regional issues

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) has suggested that activists Bob Njagi and Nicholas Oyoo were interfering with Uganda’s political process hence their arrest.

Principal Secretary in charge of Foreign Affairs Korir Sing’oei said that the two were involved in politics in Uganda, yet the rights they enjoy while in Kenya may not be enjoyed while in another nation.

“When some Kenyans have sought to assert themselves into the political processes of neigbouring countries that raises serious questions,” he said.

He said their involvement with opposition politician Robert Kyagulanyi aka Bobi Wine did not sit well with Ugandans hence their 38-day detention in a military facility.

Prime Cabinet Secretary (PCS) Musalia Mudavadi, who also heads the Foreign Affairs docket, said it took the intervention of President William Ruto who placed a call to his Ugandan counterpart Yoweri Museveni to secure their release.

He said Kenya enjoys a good relationship with her neighbours Uganda and Tanzania and that the country is careful on their engagements with the two nations.

Mudavadi revealed that as of last year Kenya exports to Uganda stand at Sh125 billion compared to Sh36 billion imports while exports to Tanzania are Sh65 billion compared to Sh57 billion imports.

He said that between 2020 and 2024 Kenya’s exports to the East African Community (EAC) had grown from Sh158.3 billion to Sh321.4 billion.

The PCS denied the existence of an unholy alliance between EAC countries targeting dissent instead saying there are good relations and are working together to strengthen trade and cooperation.

On Tanzania, he said that the Kenya Kwanza administration recognizes Samia Suluhu’s administration despite her allegations that there were non-state actors from Kenya who interfered with the country.

“I would like to update Kenyans on the status of our citizens in Tanzania, that eight Kenyans arrested in the different police stations across Tanzania have been released. Three Kenyans are still being held, two in Arusha and one in Dar es Salaam police stations. However, there are two unresolved cases,” he said.

PS Sing’oei said the government of Tanzania was yet to trace and hand over the body of John Ogutu, a Kenyan teacher who was killed during the unrest.

The PS also said that Russia had denied involvement in the recruitment of soldiers to join the country’s military.

He said that the former soviet republic had, however, said that the conscription of foreign nationals was not illegal if done voluntarily.

“We are working closely with Russian authorities in country and also out to be able to ensure that no Kenyans are being involuntarily trafficked to serve in the Russian military.”

He revealed that Mikhail Lyapin, a Russian, who was arrested on September 25, 2025, on allegations that he was recruiting Kenyans to join the Russia military, was deported at the country’s request.

“He [Lyapin] was deported so that he can stand trial in Russia because that is precisely the request of the Russian Federation and we complied with that request.”

He said that the ministry was not aware of reports that the Russian government was compensating Kenyans who had their loved ones killed at the frontlines.

PCS Mudavadi revealed that some 200 Kenyans may be in the frontlines of the Russia-Ukraine war adding that the Kenyan Embassy in Moscow had reported injuries among the nations and some who are stranded.

He said that the recruitment is taking place online where suspects are lured into believing that they are applying for lucrative jobs on a one-way visa only for them to end up in the frontlines.

“These networks have been placing online adverts on Facebook, Instagram, Signal, X (formerly Twitter) YouTube among others, advertising various job opportunities ranging from receptionists, sales jobs, crypto currency traders, cooks, drivers, public relations officers, translators, factory workers among other menial jobs.”

He asked Kenyans who are interested in work abroad to apply for the jobs via the National Employment Authority.

Diaspora Affairs PS Roseline Njogu revealed that Kenya was carefully engaging the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) over the repatriation of children born in the country by Kenyan mothers.

So far, 59 mothers and 73 children have been brought back to the country and so far, some 707 DNA samples had been collected and upon verification and matching the children will be repatriated.

She said that KSA was a key partner to Kenya given the contribution of diaspora remittances by the over 200,000 Kenyans working there.

PCS Mudavadi said that the ministry had signed off Bilateral Labour Agreements that has seen some 430,000 Kenyans get employed abroad since 2023.

“According to the Central Bank of Kenya, Kenyans abroad sent home Sh651.7 billion in 2024, marking an 18 percent increase of Sh98.4 billion compared to Sh543.3 billion received in 2023, which is a significant contribution to our economy.”

PCS Mudavadi said that despite several Kenyans having been repatriated back into the country more than 400 had been lured to lucrative jobs in Vietnam, Cambodia and Myanmar but ended up working in conditions akin to slavery.

“The human trafficking situation in Southeast Asia, particularly for Kenyans, has become a significant and alarming concern, largely driven by the rise of forced criminality in online scam compounds,” said Mudavadi.

He however cautioned that some of the people rescued are not victims but willing participants citing the case of a Kenyan who was repatriated in March 2025 but illegally moved to Thailand to go work in Myanmar but was arrested while attempting to fly home.

“Since July 2022, the Kenya Embassy in Bangkok has rescued and facilitated the repatriation of approximately 500 Kenyan victims. As of now, 126 Kenyans are currently awaiting repatriation, 69 in Thailand and 57 in Myanmar, with additional groups being held by militia,” said Mudavadi.

He added, “A major concern is that rescued individuals, now trained in cybercrime, pose a national security risk by potentially establishing scam operations in Kenya upon their return.”

Since 2022, the ministry had repatriated 500 victims and some 600 foreign job agencies had been investigated and delisted.

According to Mudavadi, Kenya was an impartial actor in the Sudan war saying that President William Ruto had met the antagonists in the war Muhammad Hamdan Dagalo of the Rapid Support Forces and Abdel Fattah al-Burhan of the Sudan military.