- Only 20 per cent of diaspora remittances goes into investment, with the government seeking to increase the share.
- Australia has emerged as a key source of remittances and professional opportunities for Kenyans abroad.
- Kenya is pushing for stronger trade and travel links with Australia, including proposed direct flights.
Only about 20 per cent of the money Kenyans abroad send home goes into investment, and a senior government official wants that share to grow.
Ambassador Isaiya Kabira, Secretary for Diaspora Investments, Skills and Entrepreneurship at the State Department for Diaspora Affairs, said roughly 80 per cent of remittances is spent on consumption. He spoke in Nairobi at the opening of Faces of Connection, a photo exhibition on Kenya and Australia relations. Kabira urged Kenyans overseas, including those in Australia, to put more of their earnings into projects at home. They should, he said, keep supporting their families and building their own lives abroad at the same time.
Kabira put annual diaspora earnings at about $7 billion. Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) figures are lower because they count only formal channels. Remittances through those channels reached about $5.04 billion in 2025, up from $4.95 billion in 2024.
A wider picture comes from the 2025 Remittances Household Survey, carried out by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS), the CBK and Financial Sector Deepening Kenya. It recorded Ksh931.8 billion received by households between June 2024 and May 2025. That total includes informal transfers and non cash remittances. Australia ranked among the main source countries in the survey, behind the United States and Germany.
Kabira served earlier as Kenya’s High Commissioner to Australia. He said relations have grown across trade, tourism, agriculture, health, mining and security. He also noted the role of Kenyans working in Australia’s health and disability support sectors, especially under the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS). In his view, their work shows what is open to Kenyan professionals overseas.
Connectivity was another of his concerns. Kabira renewed calls for direct flights between the two countries and said a route from Nairobi to Perth would cut travel time. According to him, the proposal has been put to Kenya Airways over the years, and he hopes it will get fresh consideration as trade, tourism and movement of people increase.
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Australian Chargé d’Affaires Andrew Barnes said the exhibition aims to show the human side of ties that are often described only in diplomatic terms. “International relations can be surprisingly personal,” he said. Governments set the framework, Barnes added, but friendships, shared ideas and new opportunities give a relationship its substance.
Organised by the Australian High Commission and themed People. Partnerships. Possibilities., the exhibition pairs photographs with personal accounts. Its subjects include Kenyans who studied or worked in Australia, those who built careers there, and Australians whose work has benefited projects in Kenya. One of them is Dr Florentius Koech, who trained in neurosurgery in Melbourne and later opened a specialist brain and spine hospital in Eldoret. Another is musician Elsy Wameyo, who was born in Kenya, grew up in Adelaide and draws on both countries in her work.
The show follows the 60th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Kenya and Australia in 2025. During the anniversary engagements in October that year, Kenya said it wanted more Australian investment in tourism, mining, innovation and sports, and both sides expressed interest in maritime security cooperation.
Kabira added sport to the list of links, pointing to Eliud Kipchoge’s win at the Melbourne Marathon on October 11, 2026. Kipchoge finished in two hours, nine minutes and ten seconds, a new event record.
By Benedict Aoya
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