Foreign Affairs Principal Secretary Ambassador Kamau Macharia has criticized domestic workers on duty in the gulf for their tribulations.
Speaking to the members of the National Assembly during their week-long induction on Monday, Macharia stated that domestic workers were not submissive enough as the employers would want them to be.
He linked this to the cultural differences between Kenya and those of Saudi Arabia, with the latter’s calling for utter subservience to ensure that the workers and their masters live in harmony.
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“There are some places where culturally, the kind of obedience needed for some domestic jobs is not found in our people. Sometimes our people will not be so subservient,” Macharia said.
“In countries like Saudi Arabia, their traditions around housework are very ancient. So you find that the people who suffer abuse are usually people of that category. house helps,” he stated.
The PS also said that the death rate reported from the gulf countries is normal, which can also be similar to if the victims were in Kenya.
“The death of people between 80 and 100 a year against 5 million people living abroad is the kind of death rate you would find home anyway,” he stated.
Ambassador Macharia urged Kenyans not to look only at such unfortunate incidences but also to consider the diplomatic relationship with the diaspora, which is responsible for diaspora remittances and opportunities for jobs for Kenyans.
“We have millions of Kenyans in the diaspora. We have over $310 million a month coming from the diaspora. Our diaspora experience is an exciting and positive experience and it is very important that we never lose sight of this,” Macharia said.
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The PS also proposed that going forward, the labour ministry should prepare Kenyans enough on what is expected of them as domestic workers.
The Ministry of Labour recently announced that it had put stringent measures to protect Kenyan workers in the Middle East.
These include the availability of alert lines and the introduction of a wage protection program.
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