So last week there I was going through one of the local dailies (Daily Nation) and saw this interesting feature…well its something that has been going on, only that it seems to have become harder, yet I thought it was as easy as ABC. The feature was on how more and more Kenyans are obtaining foreign citizenship through bogus marriages. What caught my attention is how it works- there I was thinking, well just go down to the beach, meet a white woman/ man, pretend to fall in love and well the rest they say will be history as you start a new life and fly away to wherever. Then, you divorce him/ her as soon as one year passes by and bang- you got your way as a citizen.
Well I found out otherwise: shocking to say the least. Apparently forget the going to the beach and looking for your pick. Those who want to enter into bogus marriages, meet their spouses through local or international visa racketeering agents and facilitators. The agent then, negotiates a fee on behalf of a facilitator and for his or her efforts, she or he is paid a commission of between 5 to 10 per cent of the total fee payable. The agent gets the fee directly from the person seeking a visa or from the facilitator depending on what they agree.
This is the person at the heart of the whole process. His or her work is to identify an American or European citizen willing to marry you. Later you notify the Registrar’s office of your intention to get married after the mandatory 30 days notice. To cut the long story short, you get married, move abroad and then live for a while and well, divorce and the rest is history. The catch here is that you can pay up to 270,000 Kenya shillings or even more to your supposedly spouse. Remember the agent is paid a whopping amount of money too for his/ her work.
Isn’t that just cheapening the institution of marriage? Are we that desperate to leave our country by even going to the extend of paying someone to marry us? What happened to the notion that east or west; home is best?
Why do we think that life out there is milk and honey? In this day and age, we still think the west has got all the opportunities ever? Shouldn’t this be criminalized? Shouldn’t it be made illegal?
That article clearly shows that Kenyans are so desperate to leave their home country and would do ANYTHING AND I REPEAT ANYTHING to get out. And you wonder why Dr. Alfred Mutua’s campaign of proudly Kenyan isn’t working!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Vinnie
posted by Capital in the Morning @ 8:30 am
18 Comments:
OOOPS! This a worst thing to happen, if will spend 270K to pay the wuld b spouse n then pay sthing close to that facilitator, this less all that for VISA n other requirements... u might even spend upto Ksh 1M in total, so y shuld u wanna get outta country if can afford that amnt? y don u invest that money in sthing else. This is unpatriotic! For me i don c da reason y i shuld move out of ma motherland.
I agree with you Pekiro. They shld invest that money. thats outrageous! am shocked!!!
Why is it that a big percentage of Kenyans believe going abroad is lk going 2 heaven where life is easy, money grows on trees and u cn live a luxury life?
Its sad 2 c how families even sell land n other assets so that one of their own cn go abroad with confidence that he/she will be their rescue n answer to sme "poverty" n make them millionaires.
To the extent of marrying strangers 2 gain citizenship...thats unethical. u might argue that there r no jobs here n abroad u likely 2 find smethin, but thats abusin Marriage. Marriage is a holy bond btwn 2 pple in Love, for better or worse....n using it for personal fulfillments 2 later divorce is just plain absurd!
Every1 doing that needs 2 grow up!
.....hey you all-i must agree with you Unyc 101% on this- Marriage is a holy bond btwn 2 pple in Love, for better or worse....n using it for personal fulfillments 2 later divorce is just plain absurd!
Every1 doing that needs 2 grow up!
..kenya is such a beautifull country and pliz note thta all nations have their own problems...why must we be that desperate to go to such extends yet you are not being CHASED AWAY from your motherland?????
Vinnie
Another, culd they b rich or rather developed if all their citizens were migrating to other countries? First, for a country 2 develop, there must b large skilled population as is the case wit Chinese n Indians, so when a professional run outta country who then will we depend on. We need 2 b proud to b Kenyans the way we r.... infact we r a much more betta country in Africa. Many Sudanese n Somalians are trying their best 2 run out of their country, preferably to come to Kenya... many Ethiopians r doin the, 2 know Kenya is da best place to b (to prove this talk to any person 4rm those countries). Then y shuld ya lie abt marriage? I can call this..faking marriage...n shuld criminalised.
Thanks Lennie. I have already identified two crucial situations where your above contribution will provide helpful and much needed ammunition!
n which wld those be Stacks..lol
Every1 hv a lovely evening. am rushing 2 class.
mmmm...we all need to change our citizenships!!!!I need 2 change citizenships to b a coastal man!(this is how tribalistic Kenyans are!
Otherwise, ve a fab evening!
peeps, listen, these are the same dudes who after a year or two are so so broke in those 'lands of milk and honey' and start doing odd jobs, cant even afford flight back home, and die doing those 1euro jobs. Unaweza kujivunia (ama kuumia) kuwa Mkenya, but believe u me, you are a first class citizen here!!!
./Okechukwu
I blog at http://okechukwu.blogspot.com
ahhhh you got it right Joseph....and the saddest thing is that after doing all the odd jobs and sadly dying broke and bila anything hukoz abroad, its US AND I REPEAT YOU AND ME who go to any lengths struggling to organise some huge a$$ bill harambee to transport the body back home and give them some so called dignified funeral like a hero.......why oh why??????
V
Hello evry1,
Pekiro u asked 4 my blog page its www.unycjollity.blogspot.com
You know the world is going crazy when the best rapper is a white guy, the best golfer is a black guy, the tallest guy in the NBA is Chinese, the Swiss hold the America's Cup, France is accusing the U.S. of arrogance, Germany doesn't want to go to war, and the three most powerful men in America are named 'Bush', 'Dick', and 'Colon'.
Hello evry1,
Pekiro u asked 4 my blog page its www.unycjollity.blogspot.com
You know the world is going crazy when the best rapper is a white guy, the best golfer is a black guy, the tallest guy in the NBA is Chinese, the Swiss hold the America's Cup, France is accusing the U.S. of arrogance, Germany doesn't want to go to war, and the three most powerful men in America are named 'Bush', 'Dick', and 'Colon'.
I have friend in the US who got married just for convenience to some white lady and don't even stay together. I asked him why and he couldn't explain himself much, just said there is a lot of benefit to be derived from being a US citizen, to which I vigorously disagreed.
I may have issued with the way our country is being ran and administered, but am proud to be Kenyan.
Hey guyz! This is an old custom funny ur realizing it now...I come from a community where this has been done since time immemorial until the embassy finaly caught on and if u come with some lame story that ur marrying someone from abroad (usually it's a cousin pausing as the hazi to be) they insist on u bringing all ur love letters proving u were courting.
The whole money thing is a new one... don't they realize they could have enough fun here with all that money. Instead of going to do some odd job, immersed in hire-purchase debts struggling in a rat race???
..you know what if only we all were like you Kenyan..i love your reason of thinking..i have been to kampala a number of times and i must agree with you that kenyan work force is so high on demand in Uganda-infact many kenyans who are there hold so many managerial positions you would be left wondering kwani we have invaded that nation's work force......lets be greatfull for what we have
Vinnie
I am proud to be Kenyan. I am happy here though a move to see the world wouldnt be sooooo bad an idea. Despite all the problems we have here I love this country. Even if I earned millions in Dubai, Mongolia or Armenia, I believe the best place I would have fun is right here
hehehhe!! i can see pple in hiya are proud of bieng kenyan!!! Well as 4 me NAUMIA KUWA MKENYA, NA naskia KUUWA MKENYA. NWAY i believ if u have all the neccessary recources 2 mek life more of cormfot hia in kenya then there iz no need of leaving kenya. but if u are workin hard 2 mek ends meet en u think u can reach 4 greener pastures else where, why dont u go 4 it.
But if its thru marriage en spendin ol that cash........ SHINDWEEE
There are always 3 sides to a story-Yours, The Other Persons and The Truth!
I love the fact that I was born in Kenya, I love that Im a Kenyan, I love my country, so the fact tha I have had my formal higher education in other countries and not lived in my country for 'most' of my adult life, doesn't make anyone who has not left Kenya love it any more than I.
So I have owned and driven fast bikes and cars, something I know I may not have done 'yet' had I not left my motherland. Do I still believe my pronouncement, as they say in the cold logic of the morning? Yes I do! And I do get get the thrust of your arguements, being that no one fights better for his own turf than he who lives on it! In fact being away makes me love my country more.
I left my country got myself an education and came back home, ready to make my mark. You hear stories of people who have been looking for jobs for 3 years and you wonder, what on earth are they doing wrong, and how that cannot possibly be you...boy was I wrong! I walked out enough pairs of shoes tarmacking.
With a mama who lives in shagz and could not support me, my brothers wives can only take so much of their husbands sending me money for busfair, photocopy, stamps and envelopes to send my cv. The wives said something that was totally true, that I was very fast approaching 30 and still didn't have a steady job while they had been working since they were 16...tsk!(I was still enjoying my childhood at that age...lol)
So, I decide to leave my country again for 'better opportunities'.
So I go to school, work and take good care of my mama. I know people do even better than that back at home, but had I not left, I may not have been able to do it this soon.
Unfortunately for me with all my Journalism/Communication education, I was not yet a celebrity in my counrty to get into the industry, I even doubt if my cv ever got passed the receptionists trash cans!
True, if you have that kind of money, then you probably have other issues with your country, but after a year of tarmacking, not knowing how long my last 100 bob was going to last, I really don't know what I would have done to leave my country for 'greener pastures'.
Don't people die at home broke and doing odd jobs? Don't we still have to do harambee's even there to transport the bodies?
Aren't some people putting their sibblings through school at home while doing those so called odd jobs? Aren't others building their parents homes while doing those odd jobs?
Granted, using the sacred institution of marriage like that is just pitiful and wrong. But until you walk a mile in someone else's shoes, it's very easy to say what you would or wouldn't do.
Marriage isn't all it's cracked up to be....
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