Scrutinise bilateral labour agreements

President William Ruto has been on an encouragement spree, telling young Kenyans to seek job opportunities abroad. Kenya has one of the fastest-growing and dynamic human-resources bases in Africa. A vast majority of unemployed young people do not have job skills.

That is why most of them are flocking to the Middle East as migrant labourers. The Eastern migration route is attractive because of the nature of labour agreements that Kenya has signed with Gulf countries that attract domestic workers, who do not require special skills. ‘

The major concern, however, is that many of them have fallen victim to employers who take advantage of loopholes in bilateral labour agreements to subject them to untold suffering, including violation of their rights to movement and access to vital documents. Women, especially, have come home with chilling accounts of torture, deprivation and rape aided by unscrupulous recruitment agencies that continue to operate with impunity because they are owned by powerful people.

These ugly experiences have put a stain on the otherwise laudable enterprise of dignified labour mobility. There is no doubt that successful migrant workers have made remittances that transformed the lives of their families back home and supported the national economy. The major headache has been regulating the sector to weed out rogue players and passing laws that ensure migrant workers are protected in the host nations.’

That is why we encourage Parliament to review and strengthen the Labour Migration Management Bill 2024, which seeks to safeguard the rights and welfare of job seekers and migrant workers.

The proposed law seeks to consolidate laws relating to labour migration and proposes to repeal sections of the Labour Institutions Act and the Employment Act. The bill also aims to regulate private employment agencies and the recruitment of workers within and outside Kenya.

The objective of the bill is to promote safe, fair, ethical and orderly recruitment of workers, protect the rights of job seekers, enhance coordination of labour migration governance in Kenya and enhance transparency and flexibility in labour migration.

Under the bill, the government will only deploy Kenyans to countries where the rights of migrant workers are protected. The sealing of these gaps is long overdue. Even crucial, we demand greater vigilance and scrutiny of bilateral labour agreements with host countries. For that is where the mischief lies.