A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about how Indians have been diaspora workers since the 19^th century and it was only a century later that the Indian government decided to put in the guard rails to protect migrant workers. The Emigration Act, 1983 provides a regulatory framework for emigration of Indian workers for contractual overseas employment by seeking to safeguard their interests and ensure their welfare. I then probed our own Kenyan government policy, questioning whether there was a cohesive, deliberate and strategic approach to this valuable human capital asset that addresses our youth bulge.

I didn’t figure that the folks at the social media renamed Republic of Taxmenistan head office were reading. They were. The good (and now immediate former) Principal Secretary Labor and Skills Department, Mr Geoffrey Kaituko reached out to educate me on exactly what efforts the government was making towards Kenyan emigration. First off the bat is the requisite strategy. This has been articulated in a Global Labor Market Strategy 2023-2027 document. It is a very well researched piece of work that first maps the employment and dire unemployment state of the nation. It then clearly articulates what the Kenyan labor brand is distilled into nine key points around good education, good internet, language proficiency, ideal geographic location, professionalism, entrepreneurship, vocational skills, a well trained workforce and religious diversity.

It then maps the areas globally that attract immigrant labor and self-assesses the challenges faced by the government in providing a coordinated approach to funneling the supply side in Kenya to the global demand side focusing on twelve countries in Africa, North America, Europe and the Gulf States with details as to what their human capital needs are. It’s actually a pretty good analysis of the scope of the problem.

The bridal accompaniment to the bride groom’s strategy is a National Policy on Labor Migration 2023. This is essentially a road map to which government agencies need to work together to provide a cohesive solution. Once you get past the ten million acronyms that can fill a Qatar Airways Boeing 777 flight to Doha, you get an understanding of why this has been quite a difficult task to achieve. First off, I now got to understand the hue and cry behind the passport delays, and why secret messages were flying around of which passport office in which county could deliver faster than the other. The Department of Immigration plays a central role in allowing migrant workers to get the first document that will enable them to even be considered. The National Employment Authority (NEA) is a second critical institution as it undertakes the licensing of private employment agencies. If you want to know whether the company your sending your application to is legitimate, there is a portal on the NEA’s website to check. In a television interview the good Principal Secretary confirmed that there are 599 licensed agents.

I sauntered over to the website to see who these agencies were. The website provides a link to a Kenya Migrant Workers (KMW) page with all these details. I clicked on the link and my laptop went berserk. A huge warning sign popped up telling me that the site may be impersonating the real KMW page to steal my personal or financial information and that I should skedaddle the heck out of there. I did. So let’s just say that if you’re willing to wear a digital coat of armour, you can try looking for the agencies yourself.

Other notable players are Ministry of Foreign Affairs which protects migrants workers firstly by creating Bilateral Labor Agreements with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. It has also signed one for healthcare professionals with the United Kingdom. The reason why the PowerPoint strategy deck I mentioned above had the 12 countries identified is because the government is in negotiations with at least 11 of them for bilateral labor agreements. Good people, things seem to be moving on the surface.

Finally the strategy and the national policy give birth to the Labor Migration Management Bill 2023 which has been tabled before Cabinet. It is a pretty decent attempt to bring order to Kenyan migration.  A key element of the draft bill is a statutory approach to registration, monitoring and deregistration of employment agencies. There is also a detailed pre-departure procedure for foreign employment aimed at protecting the workers from jumping into the unknown.

In addition, the Bill provides for a Kenyan Migrant Workers Welfare Fund to provide protection and assistance to workers such as medical benefits, invalidity, funeral grants, repatriation of workers dead or alive, help fund legal disputes amongst other things. Very noble objectives. If they are executed. We wait and watch with bated breath, Titanic deck chair reshuffling notwithstanding.

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