Watu wetu sio punda - Mutua pledges to tackle occupational hazards of Kenyans working abroad

Labour Cabinet Secretary nominee Alfred Mutua has pledged to enforce stringent measures on occupational health hazards and working conditions for Kenyans working abroad if confirmed to lead the Ministry.

Appearing before the Committee on Appointments on Sunday, Mutua stressed the importance of ensuring Kenyan workers are provided with adequate protective gear and favourable working conditions.

Reflecting on his experiences, Mutua highlighted, “When I went to school in the US, I used to get summer jobs in a factory where I would collect wood. It had strict occupation hazards such as having helmets and gloves. We would also take a break after every two hours of either 15 minutes or a half break for lunch. There were breaks throughout the day since watu wetu sio punda kufanyishwa kazi in those very bad conditions. So the occupational health hazards and working conditions will be key to my work if I am approved.”

He raised concerns about Kenyans who travel abroad alone without proper approval and later face exploitation and inadequate compensation. To address this, Mutua pledged to focus on expanding bilateral labour agreements that would better protect Kenyan workers.

“The challenge we have is that when people go outside this country, they go by themselves, sometimes get abused, and don't get the rates that they should. My move is to get close to 30 if not 50 bilateral labour agreements. The problem is the bureaucracy that we have within our government systems,” he said.

Mutua recommended sending legal experts to host nations to assess labour regulations, ensuring that Kenyan workers are treated equitably.

“One of the things I'd like to do is to get lawyers, from the attorney general's office to go to foreign countries and study their laws so that we know what we are dealing with. What we may think here is important, may not be covered in their laws. We can also know how to navigate those countries,” he said.

In addition, Mutua announced plans to create a comprehensive portal to provide Kenyans with easy access to job opportunities abroad and to filter out fraudulent recruitment agencies.

“I want to set up a proper portal that will answer many things so that you look at available opportunities, but also weed out all these crooked agencies. We'll publish, as a government a portal, and a list which we will put in the newspapers of the approved agencies because people keep on asking whether they are legitimate. This is so that any advertisement without the name of the company can be dealt with,” he said.

Mutua assured that there is strong demand for Kenyan workers in various countries such as Australia, Germany, Italy, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Turkey, the USA, and Canada which are ready to employ Kenyans in various sectors.