I fault Kenya’s Ministry of Foreign
Affairs, Ministry of Labour, embassies, high commissions and Parliament—both
the National Assembly and Senate—for their failure to champion the rights of
Kenyans abroad.
The harrowing sagas of exploitation—torture in Myanmar, deaths in Saudi Arabia, scams in Qatar—reveal a shameful truth: successive governments and civil servants, by neglecting economic and social strife at home, have left our citizens vulnerable to inhumane treatment abroad.
The solution lies not in foreign pleas but in optimising Kenya’s industries to absorb our workforce, honouring their constitutional rights and harnessing their $4.5 billion (Sh582 billion) remittance power.
The stories are gut-wrenching. In 2025, 23 Kenyans were trafficked to Myanmar and tortured into scamming syndicates after being promised jobs. In Saudi Arabia, Velvine Otieno’s 2022 death remains unexplained, while Chesang reported finding a dismembered body in her employer’s freezer.
The 2024 Qatar scam saw Kenyans lose Sh150,000 to fraudulent recruiters, and a UAE-Somalia trafficking ring conned 300 with fees up to Sh400,000. Lebanon’s crisis left Kenyan workers starving and abandoned. These are not anomalies but symptoms of a system that exports labour without protection, abandoning citizens to modern slavery.
The impact is stark. Economically, remittances—$4.5 billion (Sh582 billion) in 2024, 10 per cent of GDP—prop up households and ease unemployment. Yet, we lose productivity, taxes and innovation.
Nurses drain to the UK, weakening healthcare; construction workers build Qatar’s skyline while ours lags. Socially, families fracture, leaving children parentless and communities hollowed. Long-term, dependency on foreign cash stunts growth, risking a nation that exports people, not potential.
I see this as a governance failure, where systems do not generate opportunities for the labour capacity to be absorbed locally. Kenya trades dignity for dollars, violating the constitution’s guarantees of dignity (Article 28) and freedom from servitude (Article 30).
This crisis stems from inaction. Unemployment hovers at 10 per cent, with youth at 20 per cent and 800,000 entering the job market yearly. The Ministry of Labour fails to regulate rogue recruiters—over 1,000 operate unregistered, fuelling scams. Embassies, underfunded and understaffed, offer little aid; Saudi missions, serving 40,000 workers, often dismiss complaints.
Parliament, despite hearings post-Myanmar, passes no robust migration laws, prioritising local politics over diaspora lives. Because we have failed to create jobs at home, Kenyans face abuse abroad, unprotected by a state too weak or apathetic to act.
The answer is clear: optimise industries to absorb our workforce. First, agriculture, employing 40 per cent of Kenyans, could add 200,000 jobs yearly with $500 million, per World Bank estimates. Scaling agro-processing—packaging tea, canning fruits—and irrigation, now at four per cent of arable land, for crops like avocado, with global demand up 20 per cent, would keep rural youth home.
Second, manufacturing, at eight per cent of GDP, could rival remittances. Reviving textiles to cut $300 million (Sh38.8 billion) in apparel imports and expanding Special Economic Zones with cheaper power ($0.10 (Sh13)/kWh vs. $0.20 (Sh26)) could create 500,000 jobs in a decade, says the Kenya Association of Manufacturers, absorbing Gulf-bound workers.
Third, ICT—'Silicon Savannah'—leverages 90 per cent internet penetration. With $200 million (Sh25.9 billion), scaling hubs like Konza, and targeting 50,000 jobs by 2030, and training youth in coding or cybersecurity could retain 100,000 skilled workers in five years, tapping global demand.
Fourth, construction, driven by Vision 2030, could add 150,000 jobs with $1 billion (Sh130 billion) yearly, per the Infrastructure ministry. Accelerating housing (50,000 of 500,000 units built) and rural roads would keep workers from Qatar’s sites.
Finally, tourism, at 10 per cent of GDP, could double its 300,000 jobs. Marketing untapped destinations like Lamu and training youth via TVETs, with 400,000 enrolled, could hit 3 million visitors, adding 200,000 jobs in five years, per the Kenya Tourism Board.
These sectors could absorb 500,000-1 million workers in a decade, funded by $2-3 billion (Sh259-Sh388 billion) from diaspora bonds or 10 per cent of remittances. I see this as justice and dignity restored. Kenya must stop exporting its nation builders and build a future where our workforce thrives at home, their rights upheld, their potential unleashed.
The alternative is a price we can no longer afford.
Social consciousness theorist, corporate trainer and speaker, agronomist consultant for golf courses and sportsfields and uthor of 'The Trouble with Kenya: McKenzian Blueprint'
