The government has assured Kenyans that measures have been put in place to streamline and enforce bilateral agreements Kenya has signed with foreign nations on labour and employment.
Speaking when he appeared before the Senate on Wednesday, Prime Cabinet Secretary and Foreign Affairs CS Musalia Mudavadi, said this is in line with the government’s initiative to safeguard the rights and welfare of Kenyans working in the Diaspora.
“We are working on a sessional paper that will be presented to Parliament soon, for the legislative arm to have an input on the policy, legal and institutional framework that support our bilateral negotions.” said Mudavadi.
He said collaboration between the Ministry of Foreign and Diaspora Affairs and the Ministry of Labour is being scaled up to ensure Kenya competes favourably in the global labour migration market.
“I can give an example of the Labour migration agreement between Kenya and Germany that is close to completion being one of the more than 10 bilateral agreements we are processing as a government. This will create a system for skilled workers to move between the countries, while protecting Kenyan workers’ rights,” he noted.
He alluded to the past experiences that have befallen Kenyans working in the Gulf States and largely in diaspora assuring Kenyans that there will be a drastic change in policy and institutional framework for Kenyans to get value from engagement abroad.
“Kenyan workers in diaspora are varied in terms of the cadres of employment. We have the highly skilled professionals cascading down to labourers who offer other services like the domestic workers. We are putting a consideration to all these groups to ensure that when we negotiate, we put emphasis on policies that will fit each and every cadre,” said Mudavadi.
“We are putting each and every detail into scrutiny, proactively engaging basing on the diverse issues and areas of interest which range from one country to another,” he added.
Mudavadi told the Senate that all the bilateral agreements that the government will sign will be made public and parliament will have an opportunity to scrutinize each aspect to ensure there is transparency and compliance.
He said his ministry will run an open government approach in relation to all matters that concern the Kenyans in diaspora and no detail that warrants disclosure will be hidden, as the requisite laws and regulations will be adhered to.
“The Kenyan Foreign and Diaspora policy that is under review calls for closer collaboration between the government through the respective ministries and parliament not excluding other relevant stake-holders. This is an engagement that we are taking seriously to ensure we align our priorities to fit the needs of the global labour market and be beneficial to our citizens who get a chance to work in foreign nations,” he told Senate.
The Prime CS said the government is tightening all loose ends that rogue recruitment agencies used to circumvent the set labour laws and regulations adding that over 700 agencies have been flagged and deregistered.
He said the ministry is working hard to ensure that its data is up to date in terms of the accuracy of figures and relevant information to ensure that the government tracks all the steps and engagements involving Kenyans working abroad.
“Our embassies and missions are being strengthened as we grapple with the issue of budgetary allocations to ensure we are able to map all the details that will help government track and keep an update on the Kenyan workers abroad,” he said
Embassies and missions are also working towards supporting Kenyans in their respective jurisdictions when it comes to matters of attending to distress, deportation or repatriation of the deceased while abroad.
He said depending on the nature of the issue at hand the ministry in liaison with the respective embassies or missions undertake the required approach to resolve any arising matter.
“It should be noted that not all Kenyans register with our missions abroad despite being sensitized on the importance of such registration. I appeal to all Kenyans to avail information on their whereabout to our embassies and missions. This will help us tame this habit where fewer bad cases cloud the actual reality of the benefits of our workforce in diaspora,” he said.
Mudavadi said the ministry can tabulate 416,548 Kenyans working in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Bahrin, Oman, Kuwait, Iran and Iraq.
They are employed in various sectors including business, banking, maintenance, construction, information and communication technology, aviation, hospitality, agriculture, academia domestic services.
