Foreign and Diaspora Affairs Cabinet Secretary Alfred Mutua will travel to Saudi Arabia next week, which will be his first official tour abroad following his swearing-in on Thursday.
Mutua made the announcement on Friday after a meeting with the Ambassador of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to Kenya Khalid Abdullah Alsalman.
“I held fruitful discussions with the Ambassador of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to Kenya H.E Khalid Abdullah Alsalman ahead of my visit to Saudi Arabia next week. Saudi Arabia is a key development partner and host to 104,000 Kenyans…We discussed issues of mutual interest including the welfare of Kenyan workers,” he wrote on Twitter.
During his vetting by a National Assembly panel last week, Mutua said his first foreign trip would be to Saudi Arabia to look into the plight of Kenyan migrant workers and rescue those held in detention centres.
Mutua pledged to make the welfare of Kenyans living and working abroad his number one priority, adding that it is unfortunate that Kenyans are dying and being mistreated as they seek greener pastures in the Gulf.
“I know there are countries where Kenyans have been detained and tortured like prisoners. Those cases have been taken lightly but I will address them in the most appropriate manner even if I will personally go there to defend the rights of Kenyans.,” he said.
“A Kenyan is a Kenyan, it does not matter what they have done, some are being tortured like prisoners as if they don’t have their own places. We have already brought back a few and we want to bring back more.”
He indicated that at least 85 Kenyan girls working as domestic workers in Saudi Arabia have lost their lives in the last three months, and hundreds of others repatriated.
“These are Kenyans and their deaths cannot be in vain, I will work with the Saudi embassy to allow our DCI to go to Saudi Arabia with me so that their deaths are investigated, and to bring to book those involved. We need to send a message that no Kenyan goes to work overseas and ends up dead, I will lead from the front,” he added.
This trip is just for show…
This trip is just for show and tell unless he is going to Saudia to change their culture and their perception of Africans as less human.
Pal, me think you are eating…
Pal, me think you are eating too many bananas like a monkey!
Very true; The pay in Saudi…
Very true; The pay in Saudi is informed often by the country of origin. For Africans, insignificant. That’s their culture.
Kenya will get some oil in…
Kenya will get some oil in the guise of helping the country and all will be forgotten and life will continue.
The gravy train has…
The gravy train has commenced, and the harvest of the thousand dollar per diem.