State to help Kenyans secure jobs in Middle East — Labour CS

Labour CS Ukur Yatani has announced Kenya will export expertise to other countries, especially the Middle East, in a bid to address high unemployment.

“We are now streamlining labour migration by looking for opportunities for our workers to migrate to other countries where there are jobs, particularly in the Middle East,” the CS said.

He said there is a need to look for jobs abroad as the Kenyan economy is not growing as fast as the number of graduates produced by tertiary institutions.

But this announcement might not be good news to families of some workers in the Middles East.

Kenyans, especially migrant domestic workers, have had traumatising experiences while some have died in the hands of employers in the UAE, Qatar, Saudi Arabia among other Gulf countries.

This led to a ban on domestic migrant workers moving to the Middle East. However, on Friday Yatani said this is because the sector was not mainstreamed.

He spoke in Mombasa after inaugurating the new National Labour Board at the Sarova Whitesands Hotel.

Former nominated Senator Emma Mbura, who has been pushing for protection of Kenyan workers in the Middle East, welcomed the move. 

“So long as there are frameworks that will protect our children out there, I will have no problem with any country,” said Mbura on phone on Sunday.

The human rights activist has helped rescue over 100 domestic workers who had escaped from their cruel employers in the Middle East.

She also helped bring home bodies of those who were tortured to death.

She was an advocate of severance of ties between Kenya and Middle Eastern countries where Kenyan domestic workers were tortured or killed, including Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

In what would be good news to job seekers, Yatani said the new frameworks being put in place will protect all Kenyan workers abroad.

“Right now we have entered into bilateral agreements with those host countries including Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, and we are now reaching out to Jordan and the rest,” said the CS.

In the agreement, the government has negotiated for the welfare of workers and remuneration.

“We will make sure there are appropriate insurance schemes, they are provided with housing, transport and given leeway to remit their earnings to their country without any impediment,” said Yatani.

Those who went through the harrowing experiences in the Middle East said their passports were confiscated by their employers once they arrived to prevent them from escaping.

This, Yatani said, will not happen again after the bilateral agreements. Labour attaches have been posted to said countries.

“We will be offloading a number of people who have unsuccessfully been looking for jobs locally to those countries,” said Yatani.

There will be a mandatory one-month pre-departure training for those intending to move to the Middle East for jobs.

This will include being made fully aware of their rights and to be prepared to encounter the culture shock, expectations of the host countries, among other issues.

(Edited by O. Otieno)