Atwoli tips government on Saudi Arabia employment crisis
Central Organisation of Trade Unions (Cotu) General Secretary Francis Atwoli has called on the government to abolish all middlemen involved in the employment of Kenyan youths in Saudi Arabia and other countries.
The secretary-general said the Kenyan government should deal directly with other governments before allowing its citizens to travel abroad for jobs.
Mr Atwoli claimed that some agents are rogue and usually neglect Kenyans after making their deals, hence the need to get rid of them.
He said some officials in the Labour Ministry are involved in clearing some agents without checking their capacity and background.
“Our suggestion is that even if the government wants Kenyans to have access to employment outside Kenya, let it be government to government. These middlemen called employment agencies must be removed, this is our position as Cotu,” said Mr Atwoli.
The Cotu boss was speaking at a consultative meeting with the union’s executive members and affiliate general secretaries to brief them on the participation of the Cotu delegation at the recently concluded International Labour Conference in Geneva.
He also said the government should come up with new policies, such as the one where a labour officer from Saudi Arabia is the same one who will keep the records of the people working there.
“To keep your passport and to make sure that if your job is not good or is not conducive to your health or anything of that kind, he/she arranges for your return.”
Atwoli said that some countries like Philippines, Ghana, Nigeria, and India have such measures, and their citizens seeking work in Saudi are safe, and that makes the sector attractive.
“They bribe this guys from the Ministry of Labour, and then they say you are now an agent, you can go and recruit people and take them to Saudi Arabia.”
Also, Atwoli wants the National Employment Authority to be a state department within the Ministry of Labour in order for the ministry to have a say on issues affected Kenyans who are in Saudi and other countries.
The Cotu boss also asked Kenyan employers to desist from dictating the associations where its employees would join.
“We want to appeal to employers to respect the trade union movement and to respect the leaders of trade union movement in this country…we recruit members, we elect our shop stewards, and unscrupulous employers the following day dismiss them.”
When the Kenya Kwanza administration came to office, Foreign Cabinet Secretary Dr Alfred Mutua vowed to end the cases of abuse of Kenyans doing domestic jobs in Saudi.
The CS stated that corruption amongst the agencies taking part in the recruitment of Kenyans was the primary cause of the problem.
“There is massive corruption in the way Kenyans are prepared before they leave to take up domestic work in Saudi Arabia and their follow up when they arrive,” the CS stated as he promised to streamline the sector.
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