Atwoli slams gov’t over plight of Kenyans in Gulf, wants employment agencies banned

Central Organization of Trade Unions (COTU) Secretary General Francis Atwoli has criticized the national government for its laxity in addressing the plight of Kenyans in Gulf countries.

Atwoli hit out at the ministries of Labour and Foreign Affairs for failing to solve the menace that has now led to countless deaths of Kenyans, especially girls, shipped to Arabian countries in search of greener pastures.

Speaking during a meeting with COTU stakeholders in Nairobi on Thursday, Atwoli accused the government of overlooking the rights of its citizens in foreign countries despite continuous pleas from families who have lost their loved ones in mysterious circumstances.

“I think the Kenyan government is not sensitive to the plight of the Kenyans who are in the Arabian world, Qatar, Bahrain, and others. Our government is not sensitive, I have appealed time and again to stop the menace of taking our young girls to the Gulf,” he said.

“Every morning the Qatar Airlines and others from the Gulf are dropping dead bodies at the JKIA. Can't we be sensitive and come out with a law that can protect our young people?”

Over the recent years, Kenyans in the diaspora of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Bahrain among others have decried torture and bad working conditions, with most accusing their employers of mistreating them.

Bodies of those whose lives meet tragic ends have been ferried in to the country, with their families left calling for action from relevant government authorities.

“Sometimes I have heard the Ministry of Labour talking proudly that we have managed to take more than 500/600 people, we have given them jobs. What type of jobs? There are no talks of decent jobs, are these decent jobs where people are coming back in coffins?” Posed Atwoli.

“You can be a poor but proud person in your country, it is not a question of money or cheating people that we are providing jobs.”

He faulted the labour ministry for what he termed as lack of accountability, misstating facts, and allegedly shielding the truth from the Head of State.

“Everybody is writing to him; I don’t know what the minister reports during the Cabinet meetings on Thursday to the President. Don’t they tell him that we are losing Kenyans outside there, we have no proper linkage, that we are playing and practicing indirect slavery when we are taking our young girls to Saudi and other places?” Atwoli posed.

“Funny enough I learned that senior officers in the Ministry of Labour are the people owning these employment agencies, how do they stop it? They are people practicing direct slavery, doing the funny type of things and protected by the same government.”

Atwoli called for the banning of such employment agencies saying that the State should explore other forms which do not endanger the lives of its citizens.

He suggested that through social partnerships, the State should initiate laws to govern workers in foreign countries and through governmental bodies by establishing organs to oversee the rights of citizens internationally by employers.

“We must stop the labour agencies if we want to provide jobs to our people, we should do it from government to government so that we can look into the contracts and see whether they are in conformity with the requirement of international labor standards,” he stated.