Kenyans arrive home from India, China to follow

Kenyans waiting to board KQ flight 205 for Nairobi from Mumbai at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport on May 7, 2020. PHOTO | LEON LIDIGU | NATION MEDIA GROUP     

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By DAILY NATION
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The long-awaited ‘repatriation’ flight (KQ 205) from India landed in Nairobi on Thursday evening, after it departed Mumbai at 6.30pm local time.

The 234 passengers are expected to undergo quarantine for 14 mandatory days before they can be
released to their homes.

But the flight, our sources indicated, also brought with it two bodies.

A passenger who had been sickly died before boarding while another had died earlier.

Kenya’s High Commission in New Delhi had worked out the paperwork for 234 Kenyans stranded in India since March 23 2020 following Premier Narendra Modi’s total lockdown. The restrictions were extended to May 17 due to the novel coronavirus pandemic.

The single flight picked them up at a subsidised rate of $800 (Ksh85,894) for a business class ticket and $430 (Ksh45,635) for economy.

Kenya’s High Commissioner to India Willy Bett who had earlier confirmed that some patients and caregivers may have missed seats on the flight as reported by the Nation now says that some 17 people who Intended to travel back home were ejected and replaced with patients and their caregivers.

“We have given priority to them because they are the most vulnerable.”

He added that the flight was purely a Kenyan flight, dismissing rumours foreigners may have jumped on it.

“We have given the list to Kenya Airways and theirs was to ensure that no patient misses it,” the envoy said.

 “We are just elated, even if we sleep outside but within the borders of Kenya,” Mr Simon Chege, one of the passengers told the Nation before boarding.

He is the father to Lewis Chege a 10-year old cancer warrior who has been receiving brain cancer treatment at Max Super Specialty Hospital in New Delhi.

An earlier investigation by the Nation indicated that while most Kenyans preferred to come home, they took time to buy tickets by raising funds from well-wishers.

There were other Kenyans who had been in India on leisure and took advantage of the repatriation. This caused the flight to be overbooked, officials explained.

“The 17 who were replaced are here to see relatives, do business if not touring around and that is a KQ issue not ours”, said Mr Bett.

Scattered across the vast Indian country, Kenyans had been taken to Mumbai through local flights, saving on the time needed to travel by road to the city.

It was a result of a special permission granted to Kenya by Indian authorities who still restricted land or air transport between cities.

The Nation also understands that Kenya’s mission abroad formed teams within the patients, delegated duties and made some of them their contact persons depending on the location which made work

Meanwhile, Kenyans who had sought repatriation from China will not receive waivers for travel ticket for the flight that was to bring them back to the country.

The flight, which was to bring willing Kenyans in China on May 8 has been postponed to Saturday, May 9.

Previously, their ticket for an economy class was to cost $750 (Ksh75,000) but a new directive has said that the waiver has been lifted.

"Following internal consultations on your request, we regret to inform you that we are unable to issue a waiver to the cases presented," said an email from the embassy. 

Thirteen people who are in dire need for travel are likely to miss out because they cannot raise the said amount.

So far, the money that well-wishers were contributing via Tuma Fare Initiative to help Kenyans in China come home when Guangzhou was hostile, have so far contributed $400 (Ksh40,221). An amount that cannot help even one person to pay for a ticket.

Some 200 Kenyans had registered via a code provided by the embassy to come back home. The said Kenyans have to produce Covid-19 Nucleic Acid amplification test from the qualified hospital before boarding the flight. And, when they land in Kenya, they have to abide by the quarantine rules as required by the Ministry of Health in Kenya.