Huldah Momanyi Spotted in Kenya 2 Days After Victory in US Election

Kenyan-born Minnesota lawmaker Huldah Momanyi has travelled to Nairobi leading a delegation of 14 healthcare providers, just two days after winning re-election in the US midterms, to push an economic trade initiative that would see Minnesota recruit Kenyan nurses to ease a looming staffing shortage.

Momanyi, who represents District 38A, won her seat on a Tuesday and was on a flight to Kenya by Thursday. She explained the purpose of the trip in an interview on Radio Generation Kenya’s “The People’s Breakfast”, saying it was not only a homecoming, although she admitted she needed time to unwind after a tough campaign season.

The initiative has been years in the making, with groundwork laid by Kenyan-American Dr Abila Kumar and Representative Mahamud Noor, before she took over leading the delegation.

Minnesota expects to be short of 30,000 nurses by 2030, a figure that does not include nursing assistants and other support staff. She linked the pressure partly to the state’s ageing population and rising demand for care.

The delegation met officials from Kenya’s Ministry of Health to discuss how Minnesota can recruit Kenyan nurses while reinvesting in the communities they come from, in order to address fears of brain drain.

Momanyi said the aim is to bring back resources, technology and information sharing to those communities.

A pilot programme was already carried out in September, when a group of Kenyan nurses travelled to Minnesota and were placed in health facilities. Momanyi said the next step is to turn the trial into a fully operational programme.

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