Families of at least 80 Kenyan workers stranded in Qatar capital after a company they worked for terminated their contracts have asked Kenyan government to help bring them home.
United Cleaning Management Company, located at Doha, Qatar capital is accused of holding four Months salary arrears for the Kenyan nationals even after terminating their contracts.
The families claim the company proprietors have also confisticated their passports and abandoned them without aid. It is said 80 out of 600 workers are Kenyan nationals.
Ruth Obimbo claims his brother Douglass Jack who left the country in 2013 has been unable to return back home for lack of transport.
“My brother left the country to work in Qatar but his life has been miserable since the company they worked for has abandoned them. Our appeal is the Kenyan government agencies to help us get our relatives who are stranded,” said Ombimbo.
She claims the Agency that facilitated his travel to Qatar is nowhere to be found. She says Jack together with other Kenyan nationals is languishing in the Qatar Capital without food and shelter.
“The travel agent that took them to Qatar has shut its Likoni offices. The directors do not pick our calls anymore,” said Ombimbo. The concerns emerge as nongovernmental organizations raise alarm over continued cases of human trafficking to Middle East countries.
The council of Imams and preachers of Kenya led by Shaikh Mohamed Khalifa condemned the incident and asked members of parliament to enact laws that will protect Kenyans working overseas.
The government has already signed a bilateral labour agreement with Qatar and Saudi Arabia, which are the major markets for low skilled migrant workers but organizations say there still exists legal loopholes to be addressed.
“The government is dragging feet on matters of domestic workers in the Middle East. We call for enactment of laws that will protect our people seeking jobs overseas,” said Khalifa.
The MoU regulates the recruitment of Kenyan domestic workers as part of efforts to implement transparent procedures in all phases of the contractual work. The memorandum also includes a cooperation agreement on domestic workers.
The MoU stipulates that an employer has to present an offer that contains detailed information about the rights and duties of the employer and employee, and terms and conditions.
The relevant Kenyan Government body ensures that the employee approves of the contractual terms and signs the contract. The offer contains a work permit application, which will be submitted by the employer to the ministry.
Trace Kenya, a nongovernmental Organization that deals with counter human trafficking says since 2013 it has rescued over 691 persons from the Gulf Countries having undergone different forms of mistreatment.
Global statistics indicate that over 26 million people are trafficked every year making smuggling business to humans the serious organized crime in the world. Kenyan data shows that over 40,000 Kenya’s are working at the gulf countries.