Consider freeze on hiring househelps for Gulf jobs

Like moths to the light, hundreds of Kenyan women have been trooping to the gulf States for many years, particularly to Saudi Arabia, in search of the proverbial greener pastures.

Given the relatively high pay these jobs offer our hustlers, the deals are too good to resist.

But they should now be thinking twice after all the horror stories we have heard concerning the fate of an increasing number of them returning home either maimed for life or in caskets. It beats logic why anyone would voluntarily venture into a war zone bare handed and expect to come out unscathed.

You either have to be naïve or reckless. But let us not be judgmental for a moment, and ask what is really going on with some of our women employed as house helps in some of the Gulf States.

All players along the chain are to blame for the sorry state of affairs. The government has reneged on its responsibility to guard its citizens from exploitation and harm. The recruitment agencies are guilty of greed and seem not to mind leading our hapless girls to the gulf killing fields for profit. The victims themselves have also failed to take personal responsibility for their lives and personal safety.

I can understand the predicament facing the new Foreign Affairs Minister, Dr Alfred Mutua, as he settles down for the Herculean task ahead of him. He must have been given many conflicting versions by different players in this sector, as they try to exonerate themselves from blame for errors of omission or commission.

By the time of this opinion’s Wednesday evening deadline, Mutua had not given his ministry’s comprehensive statement on its findings as he had indicated last week. It is a tricky assignment with all the vested interests that must be lobbying to be exonerated and given a clean bill of health in a trade now bordering on human trafficking.

A few weeks ago, I had occasion to talk about this issue with a friend who has worked in the aviation industry in the Gulf for many years. According to him, the girls bear half of the blame for their fate. I know, it is an unpopular view. But it is now time to put our emotions aside and face the facts.

According to my friend, many of the girls have failed to understand that the Gulf States are not democracies in the sense that we think prevails everywhere else. The States operate under strict Sharia or Islamic Laws with rigid codes of behaviour that dictate their citizens’ lives both in private and public.

Kenyan girls do not realise, and apparently their agents fail to tell them, that the Arab world has no licentiousness, at least not overtly. Freedoms we take for granted at home are no-go zones in Islamic States. It is, therefore, easy for an uninformed person to cross the line, either deliberately or innocently. The punishment for transgressions against Sharia is instant. Forget hiring a lawyer and all that jazz.

Once accused, it does not help to escalate matters. It behooves the visitor to reconcile and negotiate with the host. Fighting for one’s rights in the way we are wont to do here is akin to performing hara-kiri.

My two cents is that the government should freeze the recruitment of house helps in the Gulf for one year. During that period, the minister should constitute a multidisciplinary taskforce that should travel to the worst hit countries on a fact finding mission. The team should then  present its report with proposals on how the recruitment process should proceed as informed by the findings.

There should be clarity on the roles of all players such that if something happens, the source of the gap can easily be traced and the culprit punished.

— The writer is a PhD student in International Relations.