The Principal Secretary for Diaspora Affairs, Ms. Roseline Njogu, has called on the National Government Administration Officers (NGAO) to intensify sensitisation on unlicensed diaspora job recruiters, especially young people.
Speaking at Meru National Polytechnic, where she met the administration officers drawn from the entire Meru County, Ms. Njogu said that many young people have fallen victim to illegitimate companies, thus blaming the government for failing to protect them.
“We have heard stories of our young people, especially ladies, suffering in other countries where they find themselves as they try to make their ends meet.”
“It is high time that leaders tell these ambitious young people that there are rogue companies who are only after making money and leave these desperate Kenyans to chart their destiny in foreign countries,” said Ms. Njogu.
She added that the National Government, through the State Department of Foreign Affairs, has put various measures in place to ensure that Kenyans working or seeking job opportunities abroad are safe, especially by adhering to the laws governing the specific countries where they are based.
“The government is aware that there is an unemployment problem in our country, especially for our young generation. Accordingly, we are addressing the issue by first creating job opportunities within the country through programmes such as affordable housing, where we have currently created more than 120,000 opportunities for young people,” said Ms. Njogu.
She added that the government was also working day and night to ensure there are digital hubs in every ward in the country where young people can access online jobs within and outside the country.
On the third measure, Ms. Njogu added that the government was also liaising with other countries in need of a labour force and linking them up with willing Kenyans as another way of addressing the issue of unemployment.
“The government understands that there has been misinformation and disinformation about the diaspora jobs that we are looking for, and I want to assure you that one of our functions is to protect our people, and therefore we cannot afford to expose Kenyans to tribulations by any chance,” said Ms. Njogu.
She added that in the past, there has been labour migration in the country, but for the last 15 years or so, private recruiters have come in, and the majority of them have been the source of the problems Kenyans working abroad are facing.
“Before then, many people usually sought jobs abroad for themselves. We should also understand that labour migration is still taking place all over the world, and some have taken advantage of this situation to swindle others,” said Ms. Njogu.
She added that the state department is working hard to regulate this space by ensuring that all recruiters are licensed and monitored in how they are dealing with their clients, whom they have sought foreign jobs for.
She said that it was in line with this that the department was working to protect, regulate, and create policies, as well as facilitate safe labour migration for willing Kenyans.
She also called on Technical Training Institutes to work on modalities of ensuring that they introduce training in the German language, especially now that the government is set to sign a bilateral labour agreement with Germany next month.
“We need our young people to be taught German language for ease of communication when they get job opportunities there,” said Ms. Njogu.
By Dickson Mwiti
