
Kenyan University Student Held in Saudi Arabia
Diana Chepkemoi, a Kenyan national, is stranded and detained against her will in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
On Saturday, September 3, a member of parliament said that a university student working as a maid in Riyadh was hospitalized due to her poor health.
Didimus Barasa noted that Chepkemoi had been evaluated, and a preliminary report will be made available before her discharge.
The Kenyan embassy in Riyadh also arranged for a hospital visit by a delegation. The commercial attaché of Kenya in Riyadh will analyze her medical records further.
Barasa also said that the government was collaborating with Saudi Arabian officials to ensure Chepkemoi was in good health before her return.
Before permitting Chepkemoi to fly back to her home country, doctors reportedly conducted a medical examination to establish her health.
“Am glad to report that I have gotten in touch with Mama Clara Maritim, the mother of Dianna Chepkemoi.
"I have also received information from CS Simon Chelugui (Labour Cabinet Secretary), with whom I am in direct communication and has confirmed that Diana was taken to the hospital for treatment and assessment.
"I am waiting to see the medical report tomorrow for further action. The medical assessment being undertaken will also confirm her suitability to fly, an action that is running concurrently with her exit visa processing,” Barasa stated.
According to the outspoken member of parliament, the administration wishes to assign a senior labor officer to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in order to work closely with Kenyan recruitment firms and prevent such incidents.
Her agent, Susan Makungu, who owns an agency called Makungu Internationa, revealed that her efforts to bring her back home were useless.
“We are being told that the family is well connected and influential people. When I last spoke to Diana she told me that they were four househelps and this shows that the family is bigger and wealthy and has connections thus complicating this case,” Makungu lamented.
After photographs of Chepekemoi seeming famished went viral, Kenyans grieved and criticized the government for not doing its bit.
Chepekemoi relocated to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, after securing a domestic servant job to spare her family from financial hardship and fund her schooling.
Kenyan University Student Held in Saudi Arabia