Business: African Migrants to benefit from reduced remittance fee – World Bank

An illegal African immigrants being frisked after landing in Europe PHOTO: Courtesy

BAfrican migrant workers in European Union countries and their families back home are set to save US$4 billion annually after remittance costs are reduced to 5 percent from the current 12.4 percent.

The benefit comes after G8 and the G20 established 5 percent as the target average remittance price to reach by 2014 which is set to benefit African migrants, who pay most to send money home than any other migrant group most.

World Bank in a press release said that in 2012 Africa's overseas workers sent close to US$60 billion in remittances in 2012 although the Sub Sahara region is the most expensive to send money to for migrants.

WB’s Send Money Africa database said the average cost of sending money to Africa is almost 12 percent- higher than global average of 8.96 percent, and almost double the cost of sending money to South Asia, which has the world's lowest prices at 6.54 percent.

The move is expected to increase remittance which will benefit millions of Africans.

“Remittances play a critical role in helping households address immediate needs and also invest in the future, so bringing down remittance prices will have a significant impact on poverty,” said Gaiv Tata, Director of the World Bank's Africa Region and Financial Inclusion and Infrastructure Global Practice.

Tata observes that this lower cost in remittances is set to advance financial inclusion by increased use of other financial services like opening accounts and borrowing loans since remittance are often the first financial service used by recipients.

WB said that banks which are often only channels available for African migrants are the most expensive remittance service providers and the reduced cost which will dome with a regulatory environment will encourage competition among other remittance service providers.

Under such an environment migrant workers, Africans included will benefit from more transparent information on remittance services.

Manuel Odeny © 2013

Preparing for African Diaspora Summit this summer By Ambassador Muhamed Sacirbey

Wedding celebrations by Maria Onyegbule, Courtesy

“There is now clear recognition that the African identity is a global one,” said Cheick Sidi Diarra, UN Special Adviser on Africa, at a preparatory meeting in New York for the first African Diaspora Summit, slated to be held in June in South Africa. African leaders in all spheres and Diaspora need to connect more and better for advancement of the continent.


Diaspora has done amazing things for Israel and now even the Palestinians. For the Armenians, Chinese, Greeks, Indians, Croatians and even Bosnians/Herzegovinians where only two decades earlier there was no recognized Diaspora. It's also important to see African Diaspora in waves, during slavery. colonialism and in modern era.


“People of African descent are dispersed to all parts of the world due to forced migrations through slavery, colonialism and war and more recently to voluntary migrations due to globalization. These pockets of African people scattered around the world can now play a significant role in Africa’s growth, development and empowerment,” according to Mr. Diarra. See Film Report – “Brazil-Africa Link” - http://diplomaticallyincorrect.org/films/movie/brazil-africa-link/29582


Diaspora Summit in South Africa a First:

This will be the first time that the African Union (AU) holds a summit with heads of States on the subject of diasporas, and the event seeks to create partnerships between African legislators and legislators in diaspora communities worldwide. The summit also aims to draw the attention of global decision-makers to shared issues between Africa and its diaspora communities, and to provide lawmakers with an understanding of the challenges faced by each diaspora community, as well as enhance their capacity to lobby at a national and regional level.


Politics &; Economics:

“Parliamentarians and other elected officials have an important role to play in shaping the policies of their countries. Their role is central when it comes to economic and social development but also conflict prevention. More importantly, diaspora parliamentarians can play a crucial role in influencing their countries policies toward Africa,” said Mr. Diarra, who is also the UN High Representative For Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States.
Debt burden for landlocked developing countries (LDC), many of which are African, has decreased as a result of initiatives such as the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Initiative and the Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative. But he also stressed that much more needs to be done to prevent LDCs from being hurt by trade shocks due to commodity price volatility and other external factors.


Challenges of Infrastructure &; Trade Barriers:

At the launch of the preparatory process for a Ten-Year Review Conference of the Almaty Programme of Action – which aims to galvanize international solidarity to assist LDCs to better participate in the international trading system – Mr. Diarra said LDCs still experience high transport and trade transaction costs, and that their transport infrastructure is still inadequate.

Amb. Muhamed Sacirbey

He added that these challenges are exacerbated by rising food and fuel prices, economic and financial crises and climate change, and called for policy reforms that seek to remove physical and non-physical barriers to their effective participation in international trade. See Film Report –“Africa Development Governance” - http://diplomaticallyincorrect.org/films/movie/africa-development-governance/29637



Ambassador Muhamed Sacirbey is a EX-Foreign Minister/Ambassador at UN, Agent International Court of Justice, SVP of Standard & Poor's. Current: commentator/writer/lecturer/publisher-editor at http://diplomaticallyincorrect.org/

Follow him on twitter @MuhamedSacirbey and twitter account for his website at @DiplomaticallyX

Poem: Africa by Leony Armattoe

Dedicated to Mme. Leony Armattoe

I once saw a maiden dark and comely,
Sitting by the wayside, sad and lonely.
Oh! Pretty maiden, so dark and comely
Why sit by the wayside, sad and lonely?
‘I am neither sad nor lonely,’ She said,
‘But living, sir, among the deaf amid dumb;
Relentlessly watching these shameless dead,
Makes my warm heart grow very cold and numb.’

By R.E.G Armattoe

(Source: Donatus Ibe Nwoga (1967) West African Verse: An Anthology. London. Longman)

Of Nairobians and West Wannabes.

So much fascination of the West. Are there no loafers, vagabonds and street sweepers? And is it not a fact that almost everybody who goes there are menial workers.

These are the people who are ready to be called ‘Black monkeys’ while stooping low to boot lick the whites and when they come back to Africa they want to be treated as demigods.

They come back with aura of snobbishness spiced up with haughty eyes. So it is no surprise when westernized Africans say; “it’s very hard to help an African….” This comes after their hard earned money has been overtaxed from jobs with no (or least) security like nursing.

Have you ever wondered what could happen if US borders were to be free for just a day? Just imagine those poor blacks dying to Spain could have a heyday; the visa line at American Embassy could be relieved.

I imagine banks doing a booming business loaning out fares, but above all Africa and Kenya in particular could be empty. I would not forget to pity the Americans because the millions of shillings they get from visas will dry up, my pity will too go to third world countries which receive this donor shillings in loans-just talk of giving with one and stealing from the other.

It is just absurd how Kenyans are west-crazy. Have you ever come across anybody with a relative in the west (a relation attached by cello tape): “Oh! My relative (or unseen pen pal) ananifanyia mipango….. Blah! Blah! Blah! (Plus a lot of daydreaming) these are guys living in a cocoon of fantasy and find it hard to embrace reality.

Kenya is a thousand miles south of Sahara and do you know what that means? It means we are in the part of the world wrenched with poverty, civil strife, high child mortality and a cool HIV/AIDS infection rate. So the thought of comparing your fellow Kenyans with westerns is very inconsiderate.

Anyway away from the West and direct to our capital Nairobi. I just wonder why villagers have got a passion for the capital and not any other big towns. Problem always catch up with us villagers during holidays when the Nairobians carry all their households back. It is funny that all these Nairobians are always from Lavington, Runda and other crème-de-crème estates, I am yet to meet a Korogocho and Mathare Valley guy.

The problem gets murkier when they have electronic gadgets; they will assault any poor guy willing to listen in ‘Ahujarized’ voice about the manual, but please do not ask what an electronic cooker is doing in a grass thatched-mud-and-wattle house in the heart of a remote village where rural electrification is a myth.

You see my village mind always get confused with those city girls a.k.a chicks- I always wonder if their boyfriends are cocks.

Can somebody please enlighten a villager to why a fully grown female specie of Homo sapiens with a bunch of kids likes the name chick but not a hen? These chicks or hens will always insist on Fanta and Chippo in the heart of a Githeri zone.

Needless to say they have always deleted their sir name to have a bizarre combination of two English names to hide their tribes therefore a Mary Nyang’inya will be Mary Anne or a Sipporah Nyakerario Atieno will be a Zippy Night.

So it wasn’t a shock when I saw an ‘enlightened’ fellow who told us was a manager being buttoned by city askaris in the daily paper. The other who was helping his long distance uncle to run a chain of hotels or hovels was caught begging on the streets.