The government will closely monitor the activities of all recruitment agencies to rid the employment market of unscrupulous hiring agencies.
Labour and Social Protection Cabinet Secretary (CS), Ukur Yatani said his ministry will not hesitate to revoke registration certificates of recruitment firms who engage in job scams.
He said efforts to streamline the registration and management of foreign employment agencies would be continuous to cushion migrant workers from abuse.
Yatani said in the past bogus agencies had been luring desperate job-seekers with false promises of well-paying positions, only to offer them low quality jobs, in the Middle East.
He said overseas employment benefits the country through remittances that provide vital support for families back home, investments and skills transfer.
“We are not going to allow the practice of not telling desperate job-seekers what they are signing up for or the conditions of work abroad,” said Yatani who was accompanied by his Chief Administrative Secretary (CAS), Abdul Bahari.
The CS said this on Saturday at Sarova Whitesands Hotel in Mombasa, while meeting coast based stakeholders in foreign employment recruitment.
He said domestic and low skilled cadres heading to the Middle East will be subject to mandatory pre-departure training and attestation of their contracts of employment prior to departure to forestall abuse.
“The migrant workers are required to undergo mandatory pre-departure training to them acquaint themselves to the new environment of the host country,” he said.
The CS said labour attaches have been posted to Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and the state of Qatar to check on the welfare of Kenyan migrant workers.
The minister noted unscrupulous agents were responsible for the mistreatment of Kenyans working as domestic staff in the Middle East.
By Hussein Abdullahi
Government to closely monitor recruitment agencies
