When Grace M* approached an agency that had advertised jobs
abroad on Facebook, she was full of hope and determination.
She dreamed of a better future—not just for herself, but for
her entire family. The promise of opportunity in a foreign land seemed like the
answer she had been waiting for: a chance to break free from poverty, to send
money back home, and to build a life marked by dignity and progress.
She was told to pay Sh150,000 to cater for a human resource
payment, medical fees, visa or paperwork processing fee and airfare.
But her dream of going a broad has never come true over a
year later. What she has been left with is a huge debt and chasing the agency
to refund her money.
“The agent has been taking me in circles, the agreement was
if he fails to secure me a job he will refund but that has been a problem,” she
told the Star.
Last month, police unravelled a mysterious human trafficking
syndicate which has been recruiting Kenyans in the guise of work in Moscow,
Russia, but end up joining Russian military, where they are deployed to the war
front with Ukraine.
Transnational Organised Crime Unit of DCI led the ambush at
Great Wall Apartments in Athi River, where 21 Kenyans were found housed
awaiting processing to Russia.
The officers arrested Edward Kamau Gituku who was
coordinating the processing of the victims to travel to Russia on diverse dates
in September and October for enlistment in the military, under the guise of
lucrative jobs abroad.
Although the Gituku pleaded innocent, telling the Star that
he fell into the trap too, victims disclosed to the officers that they had
signed an agreement with an unnamed oversees employment support agency binding
them to pay between Sh1.65 million and Sh2.3 million for visas, travel,
accommodation and logistics.
They disclosed that those who fail to pay within 35 days are
charged a daily interest of one per cent as a penalty. Some of the victims
indicated they had already paid deposits ranging from Sh50,000 to Sh100,000
upon being promised a salary of Sh200,000.
On September 20, a video surfaced on Facebook of Evans
Kibet, a Kenyan aspiring athlete who was duped into joining the Ukraine-Russia
war.
His confession did not only lift a lid on the ongoing racket
targeting young people from poor backgrounds across the world, but also
demonstrated the extend of human trafficking stemming from lack of jobs in the
country and miles the poor are willing to go to survive in a tough economy.
Although such incidents were in the past synonymous with
those seeking manual jobs in the Gulf and the Arab League, such incidents are now
stretching to Asia, America and Europe, with the ongoing rift between Ukraine
and Russia now a new cash cow.
The high unemployment rate in the country is pushing Kenyans
to enlist for unspecified jobs abroad, with the majority ending up defrauded by
conmen taking advantage of the dire situation.
Citizens of Somalia, Sierra Leone, Togo, Cuba and Sri Lanka,
among others, are currently held in Ukrainian prisoner-of-war camps, Petro
Yatsenko, Ukraine's spokesperson on the treatment of prisoners of war, told the
BBC.
"Most of these individuals come from poorer countries
and end up on the Russian side in different ways. Some are deceived— promised
jobs at — while others join the war voluntarily. It is important to understand
that very few are captured alive; most are either killed or seriously
injured," he added.
Back in Kenya, Kibet's family and friends are in shock over
what they have seen.
Kenya's overall unemployment rate in 2025 is estimated to be
around five per cent to 5.6 per cent, with some projections showing a slight
increase in the total number of unemployed people.
The youth unemployment rate for 2024 was reported at 11.9
per cent, though other sources claim much higher figures like 67 per cent due
to different methodologies or focusing on specific age groups or the informal
sector.
The high unemployment has continued to push more individuals
into poverty with an estimated 20 million Kenyans likely to sleep hungry each
day because they cannot meet their basic food and non-food needs, according to
recent findings by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics.
The statistics body estimates that there is a 39.8 per cent
overall national poverty headcount rate for individuals in the country.
Headcount rate refers to the percentage of the population
living below the poverty line, indicating the proportion of individuals who are
considered poor. It measures the incidence of poverty without accounting for
the severity or depth of poverty.
A recent TIFA poll found that one in four Kenyans is
unemployed. The number of job losses is also on the rise as companies
restructure to survive a tough operating environment.
The Federation of Kenya Employers (FKE) has noted with
concern the current wave of layoffs and pay cuts.
While it has not conducted a new survey this year, its
latest survey (November 2024) showed that 65 per cent of employers felt the
business environment had worsened, mainly due to high taxes (66.1 per cent),
loss of business (17 per cent), and unfavorable policies (12.2 per cent).
Employers emphasised that reducing the tax burden and
creating stable, predictable policies are critical to protecting jobs.
The KNBS Economic Survey 2024 further showed that in 2023,
Kenya created 848,000 new jobs, but 85 per cent were in the informal sector,
with only about 122,000 in the formal sector. This reflects the strain on
enterprises and the limited growth of decent, stable jobs.
New jobs created in 2024 dropped to 782,300 according to the
Economic Survey 2025, with majority being in the informal sector.
“Our take is that the employment environment is under
significant pressure, but with urgent interventions, particularly tax reforms,
clearing pending bills and strengthening social dialogue, we can stabilise
businesses and protect jobs. The priority must be supporting enterprises today
to safeguard employment tomorrow,” FKE executive director and CEO Jacqueline
Mugo told the Star.
According to a report by career development and recruitment
solutions company–BrighterMonday Kenya, the country’s universities, colleges
and other training institutions are churning out up to two million individuals
into the job market every year, against an average 800,000 jobs created.
Majority of them however lack the right skills being sought
by employers, the firm says, leading to low absorption with just 10 per cent of
the workforce in formal employment.
“One of the key things that really stands out is that there
is a clear gap between what we are preparing the youth for versus what the
market is demanding. Despite increased access to tertiary education, many young
people are not market and work ready or aligned with modern employer needs,”
BrighterMonday Kenya managing director Sarah Ndegwa said.
“And so, there needs to be very intentional conversations
and thoughts around what we need to do to bridge that gap.”
The situation of being duped is so bad that the government
is now advising Kenyans seeking employment opportunities outside the country to
use the right channel.
It has also warned individuals to stop using tourist visas
to seek employment.
Labour Principal Secretary Shadrack Mwadime confirmed that a
number of Kenyans leave the country in search of opportunities abroad on
tourist visas.
“I want to give a warning to young Kenyans that getting a
tourist visa does not guarantee you a job in the international labour market. A
work permit will guarantee you a job,” Mwandime said.
He made the remarks in Canada while on an official tour to
source employment opportunities for skilled Kenyans.
Mwadime said many Kenyans have ended up wasting their
resources on documents that do not merit.
“Rather than being cheated or hoodwinked, it is better that
we create this pathway, and you are able to follow it to access the job that
you need to take up in these countries of destination,” the PS said.
He also placed recruitment agencies on notice and warned
that the government will take stern action against any agency that defrauded
Kenyans.
“We do not want Kenyans to be duped or conned of their
hard-earned money by agencies that are sometimes bogus. They place adverts on
social media and hoodwink our young people concerning opportunities available
abroad which are not there,” he said.
There are also cases of exploitation and abuse with many
domestic workers in the Middle East reporting that contracts are changed, they
have no rest days, are denied wages and work in inhumane conditions.
In some cases passports or IDs are taken away, which traps
workers and makes it hard for them to escape abusive situations.
Scams and fraudulent recruitment practices also remain high
where agencies promise lucrative jobs, take large fees in advance, then either
the jobs don’t materialise or the conditions are very different from what was
promised.
Even before leaving, people pay for travel documents,
medical checks, visa fees among other charges which at times are prohibitively
expensive.
Workers sign one contract at home, but on arrival abroad
they are forced to sign something different—sometimes in a foreign language,
with much worse terms, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Embassies or consulates may not always be helpful, according
to the ministry, as there may be limited oversight, weak enforcement of labour
laws or bilateral agreements that are not fully enforced.
Being in a different country, sometimes in restrictive
environments, far from family, often under stressful or abusive conditions,
takes a toll on individuals with reported deaths from time to time.
