The government has embarked on a cleanup exercise of the Private Recruitment Agencies (PRA) sector aimed at making it more efficient, transparent and better serve Kenyans seeking for job opportunities outside the country, labor and skills development PS Shadrack Mwadime has said.
Mwadime said the government has put in place a vetting committee comprising of various security agencies that will be chaired by a senior official from his office to address the shortcomings of the agency.
The PS disclosed that some of them have been engaged in human trafficking and human smuggling something he noted will be among the gaps to be addressed by the committee.
He disclosed that out of the 1,000 private recruitment agencies that were operating in the country, his department has managed to reduce them to 500.
The PS said the move was deliberate so as to stop the exploitation that have been carried out by the agencies in the past.
“We want to get rid of some of the private recruitment agencies who have been enlisting our young people to work abroad in cases that were no jobs. We can’t allow this to continue,” he said.
“We have to protect our young people from being exploited by these unscrupulous recruitment agencies. We are shall be extremely firm on this,” he added.
Mwadime was speaking in Garissa during an official tour where he met with the staff so as to see firsthand some of the challenges that they are facing with a view of addressing them.
The PS said that the government has embarked on a labour migration program adding that he was in Germany two weeks for the first round of negotiations.
He said that the government officials from Germany will be coming to Kenya for the second round of negotiations noting that by June the two countries will have signed a bilateral labour agreement.
This he said will ensure that young people in the country to access job opportunities abroad in a structured manner.
“There are job opportunities opening up in East Europe, Austria, Slovakia, Serbia, Lithuania, Canada and America and therefore we have to be strategic in the way we are going to ensure our young people access this jobs. We have about 260,000 jobs that are available across the world,” he noted.
On the issue passport the PS said that going forward, his department had agreed with the state department for immigration that priority be given to those migrating abroad to access the jobs.
“We have a one stop shop within the state department of labour where a young person trying to secure a job abroad will be able to get the services,” he said.
He further disclosed that there was a labor migration desk at the Jomo Kenyatta international airport noting whose objective is to curtail human trafficking and human smuggling.
By Jacob Songok
