President William Ruto recently announced that the government is in discussions with the online work platform Remotasks to restart its operations in the country.

The Head of State announced while interacting with young men and women from Kenya, during the opening of Njoro Technical Training Institute in Nakuru County.

The youth requested the President to negotiate with the company on their behalf, stating that many of them previously relied on the platform for their livelihoods.

The President noted that he had instructed the relevant ministry to begin discussions on the next steps to facilitate the company’s resumption of operations in Kenya.

“We need to renegotiate with Remotasks because that is the problem I was informed about. I have already instructed the ministry to engage them but they have said we need a framework so that there will be somebody ultimately responsible,” President William Ruto stated.

In 2021, Remotasks announced through a blog post that they were onboarding Kenyans onto their platform.

The news spread quickly leading to a reduction or cessation of onboarding new Kenyan users. However, those who already had accounts continued to earn on the platform.

However, in March 2024, Remotasks sent a notice to all account holders in Kenya, announcing the close of operations in the country.

“We are reaching out with an important announcement regarding Remotasks operations in your location. We are discontinuing operations in your current location effective March 8, 2024. As part of this change, you have been off-boarded from your current project,” the message read in part.

Thousands set to lose income as Remotasks ceases operations in Kenya

It was after a viral video emerged of a college student introducing Ruto to the Remotasks concept that the platform stopped operations in Kenya.

Brian Kipchumba, a Diploma Student in ICT, provoked an online debate after showing Ruto the website, saying it fetches him over Sh26,000 a week.

Finally, Kipchumba, who met President William  Ruto at Jitume ICT Laboratories in Mosop Nandi County, displayed his workbench, indicating that he pocketed Sh 40,000 after working from December on a task.

“I have been working online since December 26, 2023, until now. As you can see, the total amount of money I have earned is Sh 45,000. Minus the taxes, you get, like Sh 40,000,” Brian Kipchumba stated.

Remotask offered payment for tasks such as copywriting, media labelling, and Artificial Intelligence model training.