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.

The 2007-2008 Post-Election Violence in Kenya also was a pivotal turning point that saw a sharp uptick in the Diaspora’s involvement in Kenyan politics and the rise in pro-democracy and fair governance activism. 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. The Kenyan Diaspora contributes tremendously to Kenya’s exchequer and get literary NOTHING in return. So among the issues that the diaspora wanted to confront is equitable representation and putting an end once and for all to “taxation without representation”.