Thieves shame country

There are many Kenyans living and working abroad, who contribute a lot to the development of their host countries.

They include doctors, scientists, researchers, university lecturers, financial experts and other professionals, who have earned a reputation for their diligence and hard work.

Many have won accolades and given our country a good name as a source of talent that can contribute to the international development agenda.

Just several rungs below these top specialists are low cadre workers, including nurses, who have in recent years gone overseas in search of greener pastures.

This group that helps to fill the gaps in the demand for skilled and semi-skilled labour abroad, makes up the bulk of the Kenyans in the diaspora, whose remittances have become a major source of foreign exchange for the country.

As they work for their host countries, they are also sending assistance back home.

The remittances from overseas that run into hundreds of millions of shillings have left a fingerprint in the real estate sub-sector and also boosted the rural areas, where the Kenyans in the diaspora cater for their ageing parents back home.

The reputation the country has built over the years is, unfortunately, coming under severe threat.

The crooked ways of some Kenyans overseas are soiling the country's image, as we get lumped together with some notorious West Africans, who have over the years engaged in crime. There has lately been an increase in cases of Kenyans stealing from their employers and sneaking back home to enjoy their loot.

Some have defrauded old people's homes or hospitals or even run syndicates looting taxpayers' money in the host countries.

The meticulous investigations by Interpol and other agencies that have culminated in the arrests of some of the con artists are the best confirmation that the long arm of the law eventually catches up with many of the culprits.