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Moreover, Kenyans who live and work abroad relate to Kenya differently. Some have opened up business opportunities for Kenyan traders in places like Uganda and southern Sudan, others have become millionaires through property development in places like South Africa and are investing their profits in Kenya, while others promote or defame Kenya in different ways.

These people are too diverse to be placed in one basket.
It is for this reason that I find the recent IMF report on the impact of remittances on poverty alleviation and development in sub-Saharan Africa positive. The IMF highlights the fact that remittances by Kenyans working abroad have overtaken tourism and horticulture as the largest source of foreign exchange reserves.

Through investments in stocks and the real estate market, in addition to support for relatives, Kenyans submit about one billion dollars per year. From the perspective of remittances alone, one could conclude that Kenyans abroad are doing their country a great service.

Both the UNCTAD and IMF reports raise important questions for Kenya’s political leadership and employers. If we are serious about addressing the so-called brain drain, we need employers who are ready to provide attractive and competitive salaries and working conditions. Creating these conditions is the responsibility of both political leaders and the captains of industry. It is a matter of enlightened governance.

Let us take the case of the doctors’ strike in the 1990s. Some of their demands were about ordinary equipment, which their colleagues in other countries took for granted. Had the Government been prepared to meet their demands, Kenya would have more doctors than it currently has.

As the Kenya government was not willing to meet the doctors’ demands, South Africa was only too willing to offer them what they wanted and more.
The only employer in Kenya that offers better terms than its counterparts around the world is the Parliament. In terms of what they take home, Kenyan parliamentarians are paid better than legislators anywhere else.

To stem the departure of our nurses, doctors, researchers, airline workers and other specialists, we need to review the conditions of work. In other words, we have to address both the push and pull factors.

Prof Makinda is the chair of Security, Terrorism and Counterterrorism, Murdore university Australia