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Kenya – Government strips hundreds of staffing agencies of their licences

30 September 2014

The Kenyan government has defended its decision to revoke the licences of 930 staffing agencies as it seeks to put in place measures to better protect Kenyans working in the Middle East and the Persian Gulf, reports standardmedia.co.ke.

This decision by the government follows an announcement last week that the Kenya’s National Assembly will introduce a new law to support Kenyan nationals seeking employment in the Middle East and other parts of the world by November 2014.

No specific details about the law have, as of yet, been released. 

Kazungu Kambi, Labour Cabinet Secretary, at a press briefing, said there was a need to properly manage labour migration to address the plight of immigrant workers in distressed situations: “Kenyans recruited to work in those countries face numerous challenges, hence the need to put in place measures to protect and safeguard the welfare and dignity of our migrant workers.”

Mr Kambi instructed the staffing agencies to make fresh applications for accreditation in order to identify rogue elements within the industry.

It is not clear at present how Kenyans currently working abroad will be affected if their staffing agency is not successful in their reapplication for accreditation. 

Ali Ismail, Principle Secretary for the Ministry of Labour, Social Security, and Services, added: We are trying to streamline the sector to get rid of those agencies not equal to the task. We have a raft of measures in the short-, mid-, and long-term.”