By Jamesa Wafula in Nairobi.
jackson.kairu@yahoo.com
Kenyan government has taken concerns from recent media reports highlighting cases of Kenyans in distress or having died in Saudi Arabia with some claiming mistreatment by their employers.
Kenya Cabinet Secretary for Labour Mr Simon Chelugui said in a statement September 16, 2022 that Kenya takes all reported cases seriously and will ensure each case is investigated through the relevant agencies.
:” Unemployment and under employment remain one of the key challenges facing our country. Kenya is committed to ensuring that measures are put in place to address these challenges through promotion of decent work, skills development and sustainable job creation” he said.
The statement says one of the strategies employed by the government to enhance employment promotion is labour migration, borne out of a realization that labour migrations has immense Socio-Economic benefits to both the migrant workers and members of their families, countries of origin and country of destination.
Kenya government supports ethical organized and human labour migration because it is not only a source of employment and livelihoods for migrant workers but also addresses skills gaps in destination more countries. It’s also a source of much-needed remittances to migrant countries and is a source of much needed remittances to migrants’ countries of origin.
“Kenyans have over the years been moving to many countries in search for employment and are currently found in all corners of the world”, he said.
In bid to enhance migration process, the government through the Ministry of Labour registers private recruitment agencies who are authorized to link Kenyans willing to work abroad with potential employers.
“To ensure that any Kenyans willing to travel and work abroad are protected, the government Kenya formed a mini Agency committee which is responsible for vetting of all applications for registration of recruitment agencies.” said Mr Chelungui..
The Kenyan official said agencies are also vetted every year before the renewal of their licenses adding that they are supposed to report on all cases of mistreatment , repatriate any workers who have been sent abroad and consider a worker who expresses interest to return home.
He said:” This is why they execute a security bond before they are licensed so that in the event that they fail to honours that undertaking the ministry can use the security bond to bring back any Kenyan in distress”.
As part of the government mechanism to ensure protection of all Kenyan migrant workers, the government of Kenya has prioritised the signing of all labour agreements with various destination countries and also introduced mandatory pre – departure training. Kenya government has signed bilateral labour Agreements with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabi, state of Qatar, United Arab Emirates (UAE). Bilateral labour negotiations have also been initiated with Kenya destination countries.
“In response to allegations of mistreatment of migrant workers, the government of Kenya would like to assure all Kenyans willing to travel to the kingdom of Saudi Arabia, that the government of Saudi Arabia has implemented a number of measures meant to ensure the safety of workers particularly domestic workers” said Mr Chelugui.
The measures include the introduction of wage protection program, formation of a protection and support department under the Ministry of Human Resource and Social Development to handle all complaints from migrant workers, recruitment agencies and embassies.
The government of Saudi Arabia also introduced labour reform initiative in 2021, which now allows employees to change employers. The labour reforms also define exit, return and final exit procedures. The government of Saudi Arabia has also activated the alternative dispute resolution mechanism and where not applicable has put mechanism in place to ensure cases reffered to court are resolved within 21 days.
The government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has set up a complaints and communication channel where any aggrieved migrant worker can send an alert to security agencies through the unified number 19911.
Government has also set up a monitoring digital application “Ma’an et’ rasd meant to safe guard the life of migrant workers in Saudi .
Kenya government is satisfied with the efforts that the government of Saudi has put in place to ensure protection of migrant workers. “Therefore we call upon all recruitment agencies to acquaint all the Kenyans migrating to Saudi Arabia with the various measures put in place before signing a contract.
Kenya has established an oversight and community feedback mechanism to facilitate continuous monitoring of private employment agencies to ensure ethical recruitment”, said Mr Chelugui.
The Kenyan Labour Ministry has also established a distress reporting mechanism through a web portal to report migrant workers distress cases.
Kenya governments reiterate that the life of every Kenyan matters whether working locally or abroad, and will therefore continue to ensure that all rights of Kenyan migrant workers are respected.
“We appeal to Kenyans ministry to travel and work abroad to only use accredited employment Agencies because in the event of an emergency, the government can guarantee the in state return,” he said■
