NAIROBI, Kenya – In a surprising revelation, an intricate community of corruption involving Somali, Kenyan, and Indian nationals has been uncovered throughout the Indian Embassy in Kenya. These teams are accused of exploiting weak Somali sufferers searching for medical therapy in India by considerably inflating the price of medical visas. Sometimes priced at $92, the visas are being illicitly bought for $1500, exploiting the desperation of households searching for pressing medical care.
This scandal operates by means of gangs based mostly in Kenya, who’ve turned the desperation of Somali sufferers right into a worthwhile enterprise. The complexity and depth of this corruption have roots that reach into an underground community that flourished, utilizing the services and the duvet of the Indian embassy in Kenya to conduct their illegal enterprise.
The operation mirrors an analogous scandal that beforehand rocked the Somali embassy in Ethiopia, the place officers had been discovered charging as much as $700 for medical visas, considerably above the authorized charge. The general public outcry over this incident led to the relocation of visa processing providers to Kenya. Nonetheless, as an alternative of serving as a cautionary story, the relocation solely shifted the epicenter of corruption from one web site to a different.
This exploitation has had dire penalties. It’s estimated that 2-4 folks die every week as they scramble to unnecssary lengthen wait and to assemble the funds wanted for the inflated visa charges. This exploitation not solely underscores a deep-seated corruption but in addition highlights the tragic affect on the lives of those that are merely searching for an opportunity for higher well being and survival.