The government aims to form a stakeholders' forum on migration law to give it the necessary authorities to organize migrants in the country efficiently.
The proposed legislation, according to Julius Bitok, Principal Secretary for Immigration and Citizen Services, will also help guarantee money for the National Coordination Mechanism on Migration (NCM).
During a stakeholders' meeting on migrant management in the country, the PS stated that the proposed legal framework would be supplemented with policies aimed at integrating skilled labour and other resources owned by migrants into Kenya's economic development ecosystem.
Despite the forum's existence for nearly six years, he claims the lack of a legal base has hampered the NCM's core purpose of coordinating migration among state agencies, the UN, and development partners.
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"NCM has been hanging without a proper legal framework for the last six years." We will build it under the law so that it may appropriately coordinate efforts by state departments, across agencies, and development partners."
The PS stated that Kenya stands to benefit from a planned and systematic handling of the country's more than a million migrants, citing examples from throughout the world.
He said the proposed migration policy would strive to capitalize on migrants' "unique talent, opportunities, and resources," among other assets.
The government aims to form a stakeholders' forum on migration law to give it the necessary authorities to organize migrants in the country efficiently.
The NCM, which includes members from the ministries of the Interior, Foreign Affairs, Labour, Tourism, and Gender, and the UN and other development partners, was established to pool resources and synergize migrant management. It also tries to eliminate costly duplication and resource waste.
Gender PS Veronica Nduva spoke at the conference and advocated for better protection of migrant women and children, claiming they were more exposed to sexual exploitation and other types of violence.
Tourism Principal Secretary John Ololtuaa, his ASAL colleague Idris Dakota, and Mohammed Hassan, a President Council of Economic Affairs member, also attended the meeting.
