The Government, through the National Coordination Mechanism on Migration (NCM) is developing a national migration policy to provide a roadmap to address impacts and challenges of migration in the country.
The draft policy is currently being subjected to stakeholder discourse and seeks to provide the basis for mainstreaming migration in national development plans, improved comprehensive and coherent migration management, as well as harness the migration-development relationship besides enhancing national security and strengthening the protection of migrants.
A member of the NCM Secretariat George Awili, while speaking in Kakamega during a 15th stakeholders’ engagement forum, said the policy also seeks to align with the 2010 Constitution, international standards as well as the new realities that have emerged especially after the Covid-19 pandemic and climate change emergency.
He said NCM embarked on a program to take the migration discourse from the national to county level where the actual migration takes place.
Awili said the policy is key as Kenya is cited as one of the countries of origin, transit and destination of migrants, most of who reside within the jurisdictions of county governments.
“Kenya being a two-tier government, counties are the niche of migration so people need to be sensitized to acknowledge both the benefits, challenges as well as the emerging dynamics,” he added.
He said NCM is also keen to support counties to mainstream migration and human mobility into County policies and development plans, including through the County Integrated Development Plans (CIDPs).
With support from the European Union (EU) and German Development Agency (GIZ), NCM seeks to invest and build local capacity and to create knowledge about mobile populations and affected communities, create mobility and migration County Focal Points or County Migration and Mobility Working Groups (CMWG) on migration.
It will also help address issues of mobility, diasporas, IDPs, human trafficking or displacement, with a broad range of stakeholders within and among the counties.
The National Coordination Mechanism on Migration (NCM), established in 2016 is a government-led inter-agency migration coordination mechanism that brings together all key government agencies and non-state actors.
Migration policy framework was first mooted during the 74th Ordinary Session of Organization of African Union (current AU) in Bangui, Gambia by Council of Ministers in the light of development of challenges posed by migration and later adopted by the Intergovernmental Authority on Drought and Development (IGADD) of which Kenya is a member.
By George Kaiga and George Ndeto
