The 1990s experienced record growth of the Kenyan Diaspora in numbers and upward mobility in education, careers and businesses. With this growth the Diaspora has been able to influence Kenya’s political and economic landscape through its financial leverage as the remittances grew and continue to grow exponentially, Diaspora-remittance. This rise in clout necessitated also gave rise to the need for a more organized approach in managing the relationship between the Diaspora and Kenya; several organizations, Mzalendo Movement, The Kenya coalition, Kenya Community Abroad, among others, sprung up

We also demanded better stewardship of taxpayers’ money while promoting our own investments in the economy. The bottom line is that we wanted to and still demand to be part of the decision making in the affairs of the country; prominent Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren famously quipped during one her campaign stops in reference to political decisions by politicians, “if you are not at the dinner table, you are probably on the menu”– an aptly accurate description of the relationship between politicians in government and their constituents wherein politicians make decisions that benefit themselves at the detriment of the constituents, particularly in Kenya.