Ban travel of labourers to the Middle East

The government should ban the recruitment of Kenyan female domestic workers by gulf states.

As the unavailability of decent jobs for educated Kenyan young people continues, hundreds of thousands of these youths have opted to travel to the gulf countries of Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates with the hope of landing a job that they hope will alleviate them and their families from poverty.

While in these countries, most of these young Kenyans end up being domestic workers living slave-like lives where they have been exploited and abused by their employers.

Long working hours for low wages, and physical, psychological and sexual abuse are some of the slave-like conditions that these Kenyans have had to endure.

In recent years, the situation in these gulf states has been worsening because of the lack of action by the Kenyan government.

With the help of social media, more cases of mistreatment of Kenyan workers suffering in the gulf states are being brought to light. This has caused a public uproar.

Reforms

Whatever the obstacles there might be to streamlining the labour export industry, it is clear that substantive reforms need to be undertaken by the new government to help put in place measures that will assure Kenyans that seeking greener pastures in, especially Saudi Arabia, will not be embarking on a death journey and that while they work and reside in the gulf states, their rights will be upheld.

As the government mulls what policies to put in place, it should first start by completely banning the recruitment of domestic workers to the gulf states as they put in place plans to facilitate the return home for those stuck in the gulf states.

The government should then deregister all the agents who have been facilitating the recruitment and export of young Kenyans.

The government should also ensure that there are adequate and decent employment opportunities in Kenya which will absorb the high number of youths who graduate annually from the many institutions of higher learning in the country.

These can only be made possible by accelerating the country's economic growth.

Decent employment opportunities for the Kenyan youths will mean that they will help grow the economy and themselves too, which will mean that they will not be easily tempted to make the dangerous journey to the gulf states in search of better lives.

The government should also prosecute the recruitment companies and ensure that they compensate the victims or the victim's families in case the victims died while working in these countries.

The government should also pass legislation that ensures that any future labour export program is carried out in a legal way. The government can hold an individual or a company responsible for any misfortunes.

Vincent Moracha, Narok