MPs Demand End to Abuse of Kenyans Working in the Middle East

A new report has revealed details about the suffering of Kenyan migrant workers in the Middle East, including sex slavery.

The report by the National Assembly Labor and Social Welfare Committee indicates that at least 89 Kenyans have died in Saudi Arabia since 2019, 200 detained in deportation camps while six were hospitalized.

The committee blames local recruitment agencies for the suffering of Kenyans working in Gulf states even as it emerged that most of the agencies are owned by senior government officials, among them MPs.

Members of the committee spoke in Mombasa on Friday during a meeting on the welfare of Kenyan migrant domestic workers which was attended by Labor Cabinet Secretary Simon Chelugui and other stakeholders. 

“Our girls cannot continue to be enslaved and suffer in the Middle East. Some are forced to become sex slaves. We met a Kenyan who has been hospitalized for six years. This is a serious issue,” said Mwea MP Wachira Kabinga, who chairs the committee.

“There are 700 recruitment agencies and 500 brokers in Kenya and we also realized 90 percent of Kenyan girls (in the Middle East) have undergone sexual abuse.”

They want parliament to take action against rogue recruiters, arguing that the government cannot put the lives of its citizens at risk for the sake of diaspora remittances.

“This is a serious issue that, if handled well, can be beneficial to us in dealing with employment and earning a lot of foreign exchange. We have had sleepless nights because our people are calling every day narrating their problems. Nearly 90 percent of Kenyans have confessed going through sexual harassment by their employer,” Kabinga said.

The committee also wants the government to ban private agencies and take charge of labor export. 

“We are sleeping as a country and we have a huge unemployment crisis. We should work on the recruitment agencies. The government should invest in labor export and stop this modern-day slavery,” nominated MP Wilson Sossion said.

“What we have discovered is that most of the recruitment agencies are owned by individuals in the ministries and government offices.”

On his part, CS Chelugui said a government delegation is scheduled to visit Saudi Arabia to address the plight of Kenyans working there.

“We want the basic human rights of Kenyans to be protected. When we travel to Saudi we will know what killed our people, although we were told it was due to heart attacks and accidents, among other challenges, when we travel we will talk to their labor ministry to unearth the matter,” he said.