Hundreds of unemployed Kenyans gathered at the Kenyatta International Convention Center (KICC) and Kabete National Polytechnic.
The turnout followed an announcement from the Ministry of Labour about the available opportunities. The recruitment exercise for job interviews for positions in Qatar started on October 25th.
The interviews, held in partnership with Qatari employers sought candidates skilled in hospitality, service, construction, and technical fields. It follows an agreement with the Qatari government to send over 8,000 Kenyans abroad.
The interviews were successful overall, but Labour Cabinet Secretary Alfred Mutua noted a small issue in the recruitment process that could have risked Kenyans losing their hard-earned money.
Speaking on Citizen TV on Sunday evening, Mutua stated that recruitment agencies tried to con unsuspecting Kenyans with the promise of overseas jobs, despite the KICC interviews for Qatar jobs being a fully-fledged government initiative.
“On the first day at KICC, we had agents who are not part of the game trying to charge people saying, ‘Bring Sh. 100,000, bring your passport I will take you through’. There was a lot of con. You know we discovered a vehicle with about 40 passports, somebody already collecting people’s passports so that you can give money,” Mutua disclosed.
He promised to take action against dishonest agencies and illegal recruiting agents who have been creating exploitative schemes to take advantage of Kenyans. He stated that the government would establish measures to ensure that only legitimate recruitment agencies could partner with them.
“They are looking at this as an opportunity to eat and I want to tell the agencies that in the government of William Ruto, as long as Alfred Mutua is the CS, you are not going to con our people and get our people to kill themselves because of stealing from them,” he warned.
CS Mutua also stated that there were good recruitment agencies that had proven their commitment towards protecting and advancing safe labour practices. The government is currently seeking a way to incorporate these agencies with good records.
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He also mentioned that recruitment exercises will take place nationwide, ensuring that people in remote areas have equal access to job opportunities abroad.
“We are going to clean up this system, so I am going to go regional. Not everyone can come to Nairobi. But a lot of the agencies are very good.”
The government announced plans to recruit 5,000 Kenyans for jobs in Qatar starting in November and December. Only trustworthy recruitment agencies will be involved in the process to ensure fairness and safety for job seekers.
“We are going to tell them to bring your letters, bring your jobs that you have been given from overseas, let’s work together, let’s go across the country in the month of November,” he said.
“We are committed to pushing for more job openings internationally and exploring ways to decentralize the hiring process to make it accessible across Kenya.”
