Labour Cabinet Secretary Alfred Mutua now claims that the controversy surrounding the Kazi Majuu programme is politically motivated by individuals who are manipulating the youth for personal gains.

Without naming names and vowing to spill the beans when he appears before the Senate, Mutua alleged that people outside government are hellbent on bringing down the programme and tarnishing the image of President William Ruto’s government. The programme, he said, has been very successful and vowed to defend it as many young people across the country seek to be recruited in the international labour market through the initiative

“I’m going to take it nationally so that we can get a lot of our people to go abroad. I will not stand by and see a programme being diminished by people who are afraid that this programme by William Ruto will succeed,” he said.

On Monday, the Senate Committee on Labour and Social Welfare launched investigations into the Kazi Majuu programme after allegations that some recruitment agencies scammed job seekers millions of shillings by offering fake jobs.

The Committee, chaired by Kajiado Senator Lenku Seki, summoned CS Mutua and National Employment Authority (NEA) officials to shed light on the integrity of the diaspora jobs placement programme.

Mutua said that his Ministry and the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) are currently investigating scamming cases that they have received from the public, adding that the culprits will be forced to refund the loot.

“I will not stand by and see any young person being conned. They know very well that if you’re being conned, and we’re dealing with these issues, I get submissions every time. We’re investigating. We get people getting their money refunded all the time,” Mutua said.

The CS said that from a total of 1200 recruitment agencies, 500 have already been deregistered for various malpractices, with some of the officials implicated in the syndicate awaiting to be charged.

“We’re on the front line of protecting the innocence of our people. We are looking forward to them being charged very soon so they stop conning our people,” he added.

However, even as the government continue to be blamed over the proliferation of fake recruitment agencies, Mutua attributed some of the misfortunes affecting the job seekers abroad to negligence on their part.

Sadly, the CS noted some youth have been deported even after the government airlifted them for testing positive for HIV and drugs, despite having tested negative in Kenya.

“Some of these countries that are very strict when it comes to your health …you’re travelling maybe two, three months after testing. You go to a country, they retest you, they find you’re HIV positive, or they find that you have taken drugs because it shows in your blood between the time you’re tested here and there. Some have even acquired chest infections, and that’s why people are being sent back,” he added.

Mutua, who also addressed over 50 job seekers destined for various countries, urged them to maintain the right attitude, adding that bad insolence in some sectors, like security, will lead to deportation.

Additionally, the CS urged all candidates who are yet to travel to the countries where they were to get work, to be patient, as travel and employment logistics sometimes get complicated.

According to Mutua, some employment agencies are based in a country different from where the job they are recruiting for is located, especially by construction companies.

“Sometimes the agency that is recruiting you may be in Dubai, but you are being placed to work in Algeria or Egypt. A while back, there was a delay that went on for weeks and persisted for about two months because they had a computer error. So those prospective job seekers and those in foreign countries must be patient,” he advised the travellers.

CS Mutua cautioned the youthful workers from resorting to industrial action in foreign countries when faced with challenges that cause delays in job placement.

“I was being told by a fellow minister that there was a demonstration planned and executed only by people from Kenya. And the minister said, What is wrong with Kenya? How come Ugandans and others are not protesting? And they said they don’t want any more Kenyans in their programme despite my pleadings,” Mutua said.

The CS said that the government will refund all the money charged to job seekers who are not successful in securing jobs under the programme or those who change their mind mid-stream.

“If you’re offered a job and you’re still waiting up to six months, you’ve not travelled and you feel your life is ruined because before you offer the job, there’s something you’re doing, we will return the money we owe you,” said the CS.