Labour CS Issues Temporary Ban On Exportation of Domestic Workers
The Ministry of Labour has issued a temporary ban on recruitment of Kenyan domestic workers to foreign countries and further revoked certificates for all foreign employment recruiting agencies.
Labour Cabinet Secretary Kazungu Kambi has temporarily outlawed the export and ordered for vetting and fresh registrations of the recruiting agencies in a move aimed at protecting and safeguarding the welfare and dignity of Kenyan migrant workers.
The ban will affect at least 930 recruiting agencies, majority of whom send workers to the Middle East where cases of mistreatment of Kenyan workers has been on the rise with some being allegedly killed by their employers and some left stranded in foreign lands.
Announcing the ban on Monday, Kambi said many cases of mistreatment of Kenyans working abroad has been reported with some not placed on jobs they had been promised, while some of the recruiting agencies have failed to follow the rules and regulations regarding labour and foreign employment.
“Cases of mistreatment of Kenyan workers particularly house helps in the Middle East have been on the rise and continue to attract international and local attention,” said Kambi.
He further said that the vulnerability of migrant workers to exploitation and abuse in the workplace is compounded by the fact that many of them often fear seeking redress from the authorities.
Kazungu said that the freeze will affect workers to the Middle East and the Gulf Region where cases of mistreatment have been reported.
The Director of Employment Edith Okoki said that, vetting of the recruiting agencies will be stringent adding that measures will be put in place to bar quacks from engaging in the recruitments.
“We need people whom we can trace with their genuine offices and who conduct their recruitment in a credible way,” said Okoki.
She also pointed out that the agencies have to follow the mechanisms that will protect the Kenyan citizens through them passing on embassies for their genuine approval.
The Labour Principal Secretary Ali Noor said that at least 80,000 Kenyans are working abroad and that the government is working on rules and regulations to safeguard foreign employment.
He added that the new rules to be published will put in place institutional and policy frameworks to streamline the sector, and that the employing countries will sign agreements with the government to ensure genuine process that will give Kenyans a decent living.
“The ministry is drafting regulations which will regulate foreign recruitment, we shall have labour agreements signed between our embassies and the countries and we shall take the recruits into induction trainings of not less than two weeks” he said.
He regretted that Kenyans continue to suffer in foreign lands because rogue agencies have been allowed to operate and cited a case where more than 20 Kenyan women are held hostage in Lebanon after they failed to secure employment.
By Albert Bwana
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