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The government plans to secure 30,000 job opportunities annually in other countries for skilled Kenyans, a  State official  disclosed yesterday.

Labour and Social Protection Cabinet Secretary Simon Chelugui revealed that the government was in the process of reviewing labour policies to ensure Kenyans who secure jobs abroad are not mistreated.

Speaking in Athi River at the National Industrial Training Authority (NITA) during the graduation of 82 trainers in home care management course, Chelugui said the government is focused on training  unskilled workers with a view to securing them skilled jobs abroad.

The 82 trainers  are  expected  to work in various recruitment and training agencies.

Chelugui said tertiary institutions in the country release 1.2 million graduates into the job market every year but  the economy is only able to absorb 800,000.

He reiterated the government’s commitment to fast tracking the training and orientation of Kenyans seeking jobs abroad.

“The altercations witnessed between our workers and the employers especially in the Middle East is due to poor orientation of our workers. We want to train our people and only export skilled labour.

We want to introduce languages course in identified TVETs to prepare our human capital export adequately to work in other countries,” said Chelugui.

Welfare fund

The CS said with the export of skilled labour, Kenya’s foreign earnings will increase.

Chelugui said beside proper orientation, the Ministry will seek to address the welfare and security of workers abroad by inking bilateral agreements with host countries especially Saudi Arabia and other Middle Eastern countries which are the main destination for Kenya’s unskilled workers.

He added that the ministry had formulated a policy which had already been approved by the Cabinet and is currently at the National Assembly. 

The policy, he said, seeks to establish a migrant workers welfare fund.

Chelugui also took issue with the big number of illegal immigrants in foreign countries in search of job opportunities saying it is counterproductive to government’s efforts to protect Kenyans abroad. 

He noted that currently, there are four million Kenyans in all the 154 countries in the world but only 1.5 million are registered by Kenyan embassies.