OCHIENG: Protect Kenyans who have been turned into slaves

In the last few weeks, a viral video of a Kenyan woman, Diana Chepkemoi, asking for help to be rescued from Saudi Arabia left Kenyans talking.

This is not the first time young women are crying for assistance from the Middle East.

Most of these young women come from poor backgrounds and they are lured by unlicensed and notorious recruitment agencies.

They offer them job opportunities in the Gulf state with maybe a good monthly wage which is more than what they would earn as house helps in Kenya.

The high rate of unemployment and the rising cost of living are to blame for pushing these young girls to search for greener pastures in the Middle East.

For them, it is a golden opportunity to eke out a living in the hope of sending their earnings back home to improve the lives of their families most of whom are wallowing in abject poverty.

Central Bank data shows that remittances from the Gulf region in 2020 went up by 50 per cent from 2019.

Latest report shows Kenya has some 87,784 people living and working in Saudi Arabia, 93 of whom died in the kingdom between 2019 and 2021.

The same scenario is witnessed in other neighbouring countries.

In Uganda for instance, more than 140,000 Ugandans are working in Saudi Arabia.

Kenya has one embassy to turn to which also serves Iraq and Kuwait.

It has become a norm that when Kenyans arrive in Saudi Arabia, distraught calls and cries for help start coming in.

Those who are lucky to escape abuse at the hands of their “slave masters” or purported employers usually become undocumented and they are at risk of facing false charges by the police for absconding and being detained unfairly for months or handed over to another abusive household or for sex trade.

In the worst-case scenario, they are returned in caskets.

Thomson Reuters Foundation reports that in 2020, there were more than 1,000 cases of Kenyans in distress compared with over 880 cases in 2019.

Unfortunately, when Kenyans cry for help from their consular offices, the calls often land on deaf ears.

The time has come for the government to send a strong delegation to their counterpart in Saudi Arabia to put an end to abuses and senseless murders against Kenyans by reviewing existing agreements which might be weak thus allowing rogue employers to subject domestic workers to a life of servitude.

The Ministry of Labour must also put stringent measures to deal with the recruiting agencies.

This has been the same song for the past years but nothing conclusive has happened while Kenyan workers continue to die and the bereaved families have been left destitute while trying to raise funds to bring back the body of their loved ones.  

Many people are innocent victims of torture, death, physical or sexual abuse and other tragedies in the Gulf nation.

The Embassy has been of little support they have abandoned their people when things go wrong. 

If there is justice after death, may the people of the Gulf State and her ancestors get what they deserve!

Communication practitioner

 

Edited by Kiilu Damaris