The “detention without trial” of Prof Ngugi wa Thiong’o and his fellow Kenyan passengers at France’s Lyon Airport in December should not be taken lightly by Kenyan authorities.
Prof Ngugi was among Kenyan passengers on a Virgin Atlantic flight to London who were diverted to France due to heavy snow-fall in the UK.
When they arrived at the French airport, all the Kenyan passengers were “locked up” in a cold room as they did not have entry visas to France.
The detained passengers’ requests to airport authorities to increase the heating in the room were ignored. Prof Ngugi described his ordeal as “a five-day nightmare”.
The treatment meted out to the country’s literary icon prompted a personal apology from the Virgin Group CEO, Sir Richard Branson. However, what happened to Prof Ngugi and the other Kenyans is hardly a one-off case.
I know of at least one case where a Kenyan was not only searched, but stripped when in transit at a French airport, though he had a valid visa to the US.
The case did not become public, nor was there any outcry by our Foreign ministry. In another incident, a Kenyan travelling with me was asked to “step aside” at a Dutch airport even though he had a valid visa to enter the country.
He was only spared the humiliation having all his suitcases opened, and perhaps being stripped, when he loudly accused the security officers of racism.
On the same trip, I was warned by the Dutch immigration officer that I would be arrested if I stayed even a minute beyond the four days granted by my visa.
In other words, if I was forced to postpone my departure due to some unforeseen eventuality, I would face jail upon arriving at the airport.
And if, God forbid, my flight would be delayed, I would probably be detained in a cell at the airport until the time of departure. This is the fate of every person from a developing country, regardless of status, who dares to enter Europe or the United States.
Recently, the Indian ambassador to the United States was physically searched at a US airport even though she was carrying her diplomatic passport.
These are not isolated incidents – they happen daily in every European or North American airport. If you are black or brown, have hair that is a little too curly or skin colour that is not white enough, you enter these airports at great personal risk.
I am not talking here of immigrants who enter these regions illegally. I am talking of people who actually went through the humiliating process of obtaining visas to countries in these regions by fulfilling a long list of requirements, including fingerprints, bank statements, letters of invitation, affidavits, utility bills, and large amounts of visa fees.
If you are travelling to Europe on official business, you might be lucky to get a visa for a week. (The authorities there can’t imagine that you might want to combine sight-seeing with official duties.) Hence, my four-day visa to the Netherlands.
It was not always so. Thanks to 9/11 and increasing paranoia in the West, every citizen of a Third World country is now considered a potential terrorist.
The days of reciprocal diplomacy are over (i.e. if country X waives visas for citizens of country Y, then country Y has to reciprocate by waiving visas for citizens of country X, etc. )
Sadly, Third World countries do not mete out the same treatment to citizens of Europe and North America, even though a significant number of known terrorists are citizens of countries in these regions.
So all a European or an American has to do is get on a flight to Kenya and apply for a visa upon arrival at the airport.
Since every Kenyan immigration officer believes that all white people are tourists, there are no questions asked, and unsavoury characters, such as paedophiles and drug-smugglers are given six-month visas to do as they please in this country.
Have we no dignity? If the Foreign and Immigration ministries care about Kenyans, they must send a loud and clear protest message to countries where our citizens have been mistreated and humiliated for no other reason than that they are from an African country.
rasna.warah@gmail.com
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