The Kenyan Ministry of Labor has implemented new measures is says will eliminate mistreatment of Kenyan domestic workers in Middle Eastern countries.
Labor Ministry Cabinet Secretary Phyllis Kandie says the ministry has started a vetting and licensing program for all agents that recruit domestic workers to the Gulf countries. Only those agencies that are licensed and accredited will be allowed to recruit workers. The names of accredited agencies will be publicized so that Kenyans can vet them and know which agencies to use.
The ministry has also sent labor attaches to the Kenyan missions in three Gulf countries – United Arab Emirates, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia. The attaches will be tasked with helping Kenyan workers settle in the countries, and handle cases of those workers who report abuse by their employers.
There have been numerous horror stories in recent of Kenyan domestic workers in Middle Eastern countries getting beaten, raped, and even killed by their employers. Most are lured to those countries by agents in Kenya who promise them good jobs at good pays, only for them to end up being in servitude-like environments when they land at their new jobs – with abuse, little or no pay, long hours, and little legal recourse in their countries of employment. The horror cases led the Kenyan government to ban domestic workers from traveling and taking jobs to three Gulf nations last year – United Arab Emirates, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia
With the new measures in place, the ministry expects the current ban that prevents domestic workers from moving to the three Gulf countries will be lifted soon.
If people have gone there…
If people have gone there legally and given those jobs, why are their documents confiscate by their employers? That’s the first sign that things will go wrong. These women should be able to make phone calls wherever they want.This thing of having documents taken away, no phone calls, no sleep time or definite time when they should start and end they days chores is nothing but slavery. Period.
Is this part of the arrangement? Hope this staff will no sleep like the the ones in Washington DC. They never answer questions like if your rewed your passport or IDs. Bure kabisa!
How are the new regulations…
How are the new regulations any different than what was there before the ban? Before, the recruiting agencies were registered, and the three embassies had Kenyan embassy officials who did absolutely nothing to help stranded domestic workers! So, this is bs nonsense — CS Kandie doesn’t seem to u derstand the real problem or how and who should handle it. It’s an issue of how Kenyan workers in these three Arab countries are mistreated, enslaved and killed without any legal or humanitarian protections by those governments. Therefore, these grave issues must first and foremost be resolved as diplomatic matters between Kenya and the governments of those former slave traders. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs must be required by the Nstional Assembly to create a database or registry of all Kenyans who travel to these evil countries for work; including the names and contact information of their prospective employers. Then, the embassy officials must be required to contact or visit Kenyan workers at least once a quarter to ensure their safety and wellbeing.; and if for some reason or other the Kenyan worker can’t be contacted, the embassy must immediately launch an investigation including contacting appropriate authorities in the host country. A well- coordinated collaborative approach between Kenya and these Arab states is what will help this type of modern day slavery and willful killings of Kenyan workers. Otherwise, merely changing registration requirements for employment agencies or posting labor attachees without formal diplomatic agreements that they will ensure are enforced is a fool’s fantasy!!
I read that there are over…
I read that there are over 75,000 Kenya domestic workers in middle east. They should register each one of them
Our fellow Kenyan’s are…
Our fellow Kenyan’s are being enslaved while our greedy MP’s are asking for more allowances. The lasted Kenyans servants of the people are useless and Kenya would be better without these “thugs and con- artists” posing as Kenyans leaders.
It’s a step foward but the…
It’s a step foward but the ministry must come up with ONE official contract, binding contract to be signed by all domestic workers. The contract must spell very well; working hours, rest hours, off days and most importantly it must have an exit clause. Recruitment agents are just scape goats that government uses to confuse the masses . The real perpetrator is the Arab employers who see our workers as tools of work rather than a human being. The agencies will not bring you the changes you want it’s better agreements with those host countries that is needed. Charging an agent 500k for a license is Not the solution it just makes this matrix complicated for everyone .
My side my kenyan government…
My side my kenyan government. Need to empower our Embassy here in Saudi arabia.its so weak in manner that when we are facing problem here as kenyas they can not help us the focus so much on the rules of saudia and forget about our likes as kenyas and the gate man is from another country not Kenya. Y dont we do like the other countries. Like Philippine. They are so stronger. In protecting there people