Overseas jobs halve as demand for Kenyan workers falls

Foreign contract attestation is a service provided by the Department of Labour. It refers to the authentication of a foreign job contract by a labour officer before travel to the country of employment.

The 19,310 contracts were about a quarter (21.4 percent) of the 90,000 target. The ministry had also missed the previous financial year’s target of 80,000.

“Underachievement in the financial year 2022/23 and 2023/24 was attributed to enhanced enforcement that eliminated rogue agencies. In addition, there was a decrease in job orders from various countries of destination,” the ministry said in pre-budget preparation disclosures to Treasury.

The department has slashed the target to 75,000 in the financial year starting July next year, even as the government steps up efforts to export the labour from various sectors.

Authentication process

Kenyans seeking employment in foreign countries are required to have their employment contracts authenticated by a labour officer before travelling to take up the appointment. This process is crucial to ensure fair treatment of workers and enhance safety by knowing where they are working.

The labour officer, among other things, must be satisfied that the worker is not being coerced to go, that he or she is medically fit and that they are not bound to serve under any other contract of service during the period specified in the foreign contract.

According to Section 86 of the Employment Act 2007, it is a criminal offence for any agency to send an employee to a foreign country without the employer and employee entering into a foreign contract of service, punishable by a fine of up to Sh200,000 or imprisonment for up to six months, or both.

Kenya has been tightening procedures for export of labour, particularly to Middle East countries, following the death, injury and torture of some of the workers seeking jobs in foreign countries.

In the year ended June 2024, the Labour ministry says it repatriated 758 migrant workers. Of these, 740 were from Saudi Arabia and 18 were from the United Arabs Emirates. 

President William Ruto’s administration sees the overseas labour market as a way out of the country’s employment crisis, as the number of university and college graduates continues to outnumber new job openings in the economy. 

Dr Ruto said during last week’s Madaraka Day fete that his administration is implementing strategies to secure jobs abroad to facilitate mobility and placement of suitably qualified Kenyans to create opportunities for hundreds of thousands of people who enter the labour market annually.

According to the President, since September 2022, more than 243,000 Kenyans have secured international job opportunities in the healthcare, agriculture, and construction sectors, with 12,000 openings coming in the last two months alone.

The President’s numbers are more than double the 111,427, which is the number of foreign contracts of service that the Ministry of Labour attested in the three years to June 2023. This could suggest many Kenyans are leaving the country without State’s clearance.

The country currently has bilateral labour frameworks with seven countries, while agreements with two more countries are awaiting signature. Dr Ruto said agreements with 13 other countries are at various stages of negotiations.

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