A video of interior CS Dr Fred Matiang’I lecturing two foreign nationals of Asian descent over taking Kenyan jobs has gone viral.
The video filmed at Nyayo house which hosts the headquarters of the Immigration Department shows the CS ask the foreign nationals who had gone to renew their work permits if they really deserved to be issued with the permits.
“ You are giving a person a work permit to manage a construction site, how many Kenyans can manage a construction? “ Matiang’i posed .
Matiang’i who was then overheard saying that the practice of foreigners being issued with work permits for jobs that could be managed by Kenyans was unacceptable.
This comes amidst a crackdown against illegal foreigners working in the country.
The crackdown which was launched on 21st May 2018 targets more than 100,000 foreigners working in the country.
According to the Department of Immigration, hundreds of thousands of foreigners have acquired illegal working permits against the 34,000 ones issued by the department.
All foreigners have been asked to surrender their work permits with the Immigration Department for authentication after which they will be replaced with electronic card readable by an electronic register.
Last month during a summit with the National Assembly Committee on National Security in Mombasa, Matiang’i promised to clean up the register of foreigners working in the country in 60 days.
“After 60 days, George Kinoti [DCI director] will conduct a swoop and remove from our country people who are not desired to be here. We are going to tighten the process of obtaining a work permit,” Matiang’I told the committee.
