- 5,000 Kenyan refugees stuck in Qatar due to unfulfilled job promises and exploitation by rogue agents.
- Labor and Social Cabinet Secretary working to address the issue and remove fraudulent agents from the system.
- Kenya has a history of exporting labor, including recent cases of laborers sent to Israel despite conflict with Hamas.
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The prospect of finding a job on foreign soil has led to the expansion of Kenyan refugees in Qatar.
Alfred Mutua, Kenya's Labor and Social Protection Cabinet Secretary, on Sunday revealed that there are no less than 5000 Kenyan refugees in the Middle Eastern country of Qatar.
He noted that this is the fault of ‘rogue agents’, who had flown the unsuspecting victims to the Gulf State on the promise of finding them work.
“Currently we've got 5,000 Kenyans stuck in Qatar living as refugees. They were taken there during the World Cup period. Some of the promised jobs they have never realized themselves and because they have paid Sh200,000 to Sh250,000 they have refused to come back until they get a job," the cabinet secretary disclosed.
“5,000 Kenyans who are being fed by the International Organization of Migration every day in Qatar and it's because of these rogue agents in our country,” he added.
As reported by the Star, Alfred Mutua mentioned that he is working to purge the system of rogue agents who have been defrauding unsuspecting Kenyans.
“We have asked people to do this, come and when you are interviewed you pay nothing at all. Once you pass your second interview and get the job there are fees you will need to pay.
For example, nobody will pay for you to do medicals and other small process costs which you know where they are going,” he elaborated.
The CS mentioned a recent situation in which more than 20,000 Kenyans had come out to try their luck at the government-announced recruitment last week.
He narrated that rogue agents had infiltrated the exercise and were already acquiring passports from those who had appeared for the interviews.
“On the first day at KICC, we had agents who came who were not part of the process and started to charge people. We discovered a vehicle with about 40 passports already collected so that they can give money,” he stated.
Kenya’s export of labor
Kenya is no stranger to the export of labor.
In February 1500 Kenyan laborers were set to be sent to Israel on three-year renewable contracts, "with a guaranteed net [monthly] income" of $1,500 (£1,195), according to the labor ministry.
At the time Kenya had already sent 1,500 workers, alongside Malawi which had sent over 221 workers. This was despite the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas.
Some Kenyans backed the deal, arguing that it creates jobs at a time when the East African nation is struggling with a high unemployment rate and escalating living expenses.
A year prior, the Kenyan and German governments collaborated on a deal that had the potential to send a record 250,000 Kenyans to Berlin to fill in the European country’s labor market.
A World Bank report highlighted the fact that Kenya's historic export of low- and semi-skilled labor is giving way to an increase in skilled labor exports, notably in technology and finance.
The report noted that over time, net services exports have grown and are now significantly more than net exports of products.
