Mutual Benefit: Germany and Kenya Sign Agreement in Berlin (September 13, 2024)
The traffic light government is working with the coalition to plan comprehensive deportation, rejection and border control, while also signing a series of migration agreements with countries in the global south to bring in urgently needed skilled workers. The agreements were signed as part of Kenyan President William Ruto’s two-day state visit to Berlin last Friday. The agreements, which were preceded by a year of preparatory discussions, were signed by Home Affairs Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) and Kenyan Foreign Affairs Minister Musalia Mudavadi, according to Ruto., I signed it.
On the one hand, the agreement provides for the return of Kenyan citizens who would be expelled from the Federal Republic of Germany. However, this page is somewhat secondary, considering that according to official information, only 15,000 Kenyans live in the Federal Republic of Germany, of which 800 are considered to be forced to leave the country. The second component of the migration agreement is much more important: the recruitment of approximately 250,000 Kenyan skilled workers for the German labor market.
Ruto and Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) tried to avoid the impression of a “brain drain”, referring to the two states’ victory at a joint press conference on Friday after the talks. The African Association of German Business had already congratulated them on Thursday, saying: “Kenya is one of the most important economies in sub-Saharan Africa and offers excellent investment opportunities for German companies.” The German-Kenyan cooperation could become a “model” for relations with other African countries. The agreement offers “enormous opportunities for both sides”, as it would address the shortage of skilled workers in the Federal Republic of Germany and help Kenya cope with high unemployment. Improving Kenyan skilled workers’ access to the German labour market creates a “win-win situation.”
In fact, this agreement is more than anything an opportunity for Ruto to get rid of at least some of the dissatisfied young people who have little prospects in their home country. Thirty-five percent of Kenya’s population is between the ages of 15 and 34, and 67 percent of this age group are unemployed. Instead of developing effective programs to build their own economy, these young people, trained at Kenya’s expense, are now forced to seek their fortunes in the Federal Republic of Germany.
Ruto, who has ruled the East African nation for almost exactly two years, has moved his country closer to the West in terms of foreign policy. While his predecessors still sought cooperation with China, Kenya, led by Ruto, was designated a “major non-NATO ally” after a presentation in Washington in May, the only country in sub-Saharan Africa to do so. The country is one of the few members of the “Ukraine Contact Group” (Ramstein Group) in the southern hemisphere. Ruto has also sent about 1,000 police officers to Haiti, a volatile Caribbean nation, on behalf of the United States, to support the transitional government there.
The pro-Western president also deploys a notorious police force against his own people. In June, dozens of protesters were killed and hundreds injured in a crackdown on mass demonstrations by Kenyan youth against a tax hike on basic foodstuffs. While there would have been immediate calls for the resignation and sanctions of the independent ruler from the West, Germany and other Western governments have only expressed “concern” and called for “restraint.”
Scholz plans to visit Uzbekistan in Central Asia this Sunday, where similar agreements are expected to be signed, according to media reports.
