Labour Cabinet Secretary Alfred Mutua has revealed that a total of 23 Kenyans were banned from travelling to Qatar for the foreign jobs that the government had secured on their behalf, just moments after they had successfully passed their interviews.
Speaking during the Jamhuri National Jobs fair at the Kenyatta International Conference Centre (KICC) in Nairobi on Wednesday, December 11, Mutua revealed that the candidates were rejected after it was established that they had been initially to the Middle East-based country and broke some local laws.
”Some of the people that we hired, 23 of them, have been banned because they went to Qatar before and broke the law. Whatever you do follows you, some of them are drivers,” Mutua revealed.
According to the CS, the government had little to do in regard to their case after it was established that no efforts would salvage them.
Labour Cabinet Secretary Alfred Mutua during the East African Employability Summit at KICC on Tuesday, October 29. PHOTO/ Alfred Mutua
The CS at the same time launched a scathing attack on critics of the government over the labour migration agreements between the government of Kenya and Qatar.
Mutua dismissed claims that the government had assumed the role of recruitment agencies by acting as a go-between with Qatar.
”Some people are referring to this initiative as hearsay stories, they can mind their own business,” Mutua asserted.
”These jobs are not ours as they belong to specific companies who come to us with specific requests, insisting on hiring Kenyans,” he added.
Additionally, he allayed fears that the government was soliciting funds unlawfully from the recruits, noting that it was the recruitment agencies that were legally soliciting for money.
”The government cannot recruit people as that is done through agencies according to the law. It is them who know where to run for medical check-ups. These agencies must also charge some service fee on what they do,” the CS added.
The CS further asked those peddling rumours about the jobs program to stay away from the whole exercise, insisting that the government was not in the business of forcing anyone to travel for the opportunities.
The sentiments come against the backdrop of some accusations that had been ripe on social media of how some of the recruits were forced to take jobs that they had not interviewed for.
According to the CS, it was the preference of the recruiting companies to change some of the job roles for the recruits after their internal assessments.
Consequently, he said that the government would be sending some officials to accompany the more than 200 recruits to ensure that they are taken care of upon arrival in Qatar.
”Nobody is forcing you to go, you make the choice. My job is to ensure that you don’t get conned in the process,” Mutua detailed.
Mutua also confirmed that 200 Kenyan police are in the process of leaving the country for Qatar, as the government finalizes clearing them.
He detailed that the officers would be leaving, according to a request from the Qatari government which the government agreed to.
”The ambassador here can confirm that we just recruited 200 police officers for Qatar and they are just currently going through the checks before they can go,” he added.
Labour Cabinet Secretary Alfred Mutua(second left) interacting with Kenyans who had shown up for Qatar jobs recruitment at Kabete National Polytechnic in Nairobi.
Ministry of Labour
