Report of the committee’s visit to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on a fact finding mission on the welfare of migrant Kenyan workers in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Hon speaker, It is my great pleasure to forward this report to the House for consideration. Unemployment remains one of the key challenges facing our country today. Indeed, unemployment especially among the youth has often been described as a ticking time bomb, with potentially negative repercussions for the nation. Every year, the country’s training institutions at various levels continue to churn out millions of new entrants into the Labour market, who unfortunately cannot be absorbed. The country must find ways of addressing this challenge as a matter of priority. One of the ways of addressing this challenge Mr. Speaker, is to find suitable destinations for our excess labour. One key characteristic of our labour force is the flexibility and dynamism of the Kenyan workers which has seen millions of Kenyans securing jobs in all the continents of the world. The country can therefore leverage on this potential to export both skilled and unskilled labour to countries that have severe shortage of human resource. Mr. Speaker, Saudi Arabia is one such country, where much of the labour force is migrant. It is based on this recognition that my Committee identified Saudi Arabia as its first destination in establishing the welfare of Kenyan workers in the Middle East in general. Close to 55000 Kenyans are working in the Kingdom. Majority of these workers are Domestic servants, though there are a number of professionals such as teachers and bankers. The concern of the Committee is the welfare and safety of the workers while ensuring Kenya competes favorably with other source countries such as India, Ethiopia, Sri Lanka, Sudan and Pakistan.