After spending harrowing days in foreign capitals locked up, scores of stranded Kenyans are scheduled for evacuation to Nairobi next week. A Kenya Airways plane will fly home Kenyans from India on Tuesday next week, a notice by Kenyan High Commission in India stated. “The planned flight, KQ 224, will depart Mumbai at 0900 hours on June 23, 2020 and is expected to arrive in Nairobi at 1245 hours,” the notice reads in part. The Kenyans were left stranded in India and other countries following the cancellation on international flights into and out of the country in March over Covid-19 pandemic. Among those stranded in India are patients who went to the country for treatment. The stranded citizens will, however, be airlifted to Kenya at their own cost and under strict conditions. In a notice issued last evening, the Kenyan High Commission in New Delhi, India said it had been informed that KQ had scheduled a special flight to airlift Kenyan citizens. According to the notice issued by Ambassador Willy Bett, the stranded citizens will return home through the June 23 special flight to Nairobi. Stranded Kenyans will part with between Sh67,500 for an Economy Class ticket and Sh95,000 for Business Class ticket for the journey back home, the notice said. Some of the Kenyans welcomed the move, but wondered why the national carrier was charging them fare, which they described as "exorbitant at a time they need help and mercy from the State". "I am broke, can’t raise Sh140,000 for me and my wife," explained Wallance Kimani, a retired teacher who has been in India for the last six months, undergoing cancer treatment and is now healed.
