Kenyans abroad eye county, national public jobs

Kenyans abroad plan to establish a skills database for soliciting the national and county government jobs.

Kenya Diaspora Alliance (KDA) chairman Shem Ochuodho said 2,000 professionals had uploaded their resumes. The lobby aims to increase the number to 10,000 professionals next year, which will act as a basis for pitching for various vacancies in the public service.

“In the last one year, diaspora Kenyans sent home Sh300 billion being the second-highest foreign income earner after tea. We have professional skills and experience earned abroad that could benefit our country economically,” he said.

Speaking on the concluded 2019 diaspora convention, Dr Ochuodho said Kenyans working in various sectors across the world had expressed their wish to return home to share their skills.

He said the appointment of Mwende Mwinzi as Kenya’s ambassador nominee to South Korea was a welcome gesture for the diaspora community, which understands both worlds giving them the capability to safeguard Kenya’s interests abroad, once appointed to various public roles.

KDA advisory board member and former Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Kenya Vice-Chairperson Rosemary Gituma said tapping the diaspora would benefit the public sector entities from readily-available skills, saving Kenya the cost of training such expertise.