The government of Kenya, seeking to reduce unemployment, is reaching out to various countries to absorbed Kenyan professionals. The government last week indicated it had reached a deal with a number of countries where arrangements are being made for Kenyans to secure well-paying jobs.
The Ministry of Labour and Social Protection said it has signed bilateral labour agreements with seven countries to assist qualified but unemployed Kenyans to secure jobs abroad. Out of seven four agreements are already functional: Saudi Arabia, Germany, South Korea and Canada.
Labour Cabinet Secretary (CS) Florence Bore said the initiative would benefit thousands of Kenyans in different cadres as the government moves to address rising unemployment.
Among the agreements signed, she said, was between Kenya and Saudi Arabia where about 130, 000 opportunities have been identified for qualified Kenyans to tap into.
Kenya, she added, was looking beyond the gulf countries which have traditionally absorbed Kenyan workers to ensure that as many Kenyans as possible benefit from the programme.
She disclosed that negotiations were at an advanced stage with Canada, South Korea and Germany to secure more job opportunities. German chancellor Olaf Scholz was in Kenya this week and revealed that the country has up to seven million jobs from which Kenyans can benefit. Chancellor Scholz agreed to open doors to 250,000 professional, skilled and semi-skilled Kenyans in an effort to meet Germany’s huge labour requirements.
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The CS said the ministry is working on packaging job seekers to ready them for the available opportunities abroad. “What we have as a country is the human resource. People have graduated with various degrees and courses but do not have jobs. We want to sell this out there and be able to secure opportunities for them,” she said.
She added that the ministry was in the process of reviewing existing bilateral labour relations with different countries to safeguard Kenyans working outside the country.
This comes against the backdrop of Kenyans being tortured and mistreated abroad with the CS assuring that they were reviewing targets to address teething problems affecting the programme.
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Through the initiative, the government aims to ensure that all Kenyans who secure jobs abroad are put in the right cadres, get the right salaries and work in a conducive environment.
Bore added that the government was developing a National Labour Policy and a National Labour Management Bill to regulate and control recruitment agencies.
The number of registered recruitment agencies reduced from 900 to 500 adding that vetting would continue to ensure that only agencies that meet the set standards are allowed to operate.
