A Kenyan national working for Ambassador Purity Muhindi as a cook has been fired by the Ambassador after he went to hospital and was told that he is suffering from diabetes. According to a source, the male cook, who is in his 50s, was also informed by the Ambassador that he will be travelling back to Kenya next Saturday following termination of his duties at the Ambassador’s residence.
The cook is reported to have paid an unspecified but huge amount of money at the hospital where he had gone for a check-up. It is was not immediately clear why the cook is being deported on Saturday by the Ambassador soon after the discovery that he was sick and needed serious medical treatment.
A possible explanation is that the Ambassador or the Embassy may be avoiding to foot the cook’s medical bills, given that the treatment of diabetes may be a life-long and expensive operation which requires constant medication.
Another explanation could be that the cook was working for the Ambassador outside the Swedish Labour laws which stipulates that workers have medical insurance to shield them financially in cases of illness while ensuring that they get proper medical attention. If he did not have insurance, then either the Ambassador, the cook or the Kenyan government is under an obligation to sort out his medical expenses.
The firing of the cook and the plan by the Ambassador to deport him despite a new diagnosis linked to diabetes demonstrates the brutality of the Ambassador in her handling of ailing Embassy personnel.
Last year, Mr. Cheruiyot, a former Treasurer at the Embassy, was rescued from a dirty plan to hijack him from Karolinska hospital and deport him to Kenya despite the fact that he was bed ridden at the hospital and suffering from a debilitating disease. It took the action of a group of Kenyans who organized and physically stopped the deportation after Embassy staff arrived at the hospital to help pluck Mr. Cheruiyot from his hospital bed to transport him to Arlanda International Airport.
After the story came into the public lime light, the Ambassador dropped the plan as Cheruiyot sought political asylum in Sweden on humanitarian grounds. He is currently receiving treatment as a refugee in Sweden.
Okoth Osewe
