President William Ruto on Monday announced at least 7,000 skilled workers could be on their way to work in Qatar as early as in December this year, days after Kenya streamlined a deal to export labour to the Gulf state.
The President, during a meeting at State House, thanked Qatar’s Minister of Labour, Dr Ali Bin Samikh Al-Marri for facilitating the setting up of a Qatar Visa Centre in Nairobi as well as a new station which will go a long way in ensuring job contracts are properly signed.
"I'm proud of what you were able to achieve. The fact that you are improving the working conditions of people working in your country is a positive development," the Head of State said. "It makes it easy to process people who want to go to Qatar. Documentation becomes much easier.
Ruto further clarified that 7000 eligible Kenyans would be able to fly out to Qatar once their documentation checks out from December 024. Individuals in sectors ranging from health to hospitality all stand a good chance of working in the Gulf state.
He added, "Let me also appreciate the offer of 7000 workers. I'm sure you are targeting fields in which we have qualified personnel like Health, ICT, Education, and Hospitality are fields that Kenyans are known for in providing high-quality services."
The President reiterated Kenyan workers' credentials, saying the country was home to some of the most skilled people in the global labour force. While labelling Kenyans as people who 'can fit in any economy in the world, Ruto urged Qatar to fully tap into the Kenyan labour force to up the number of Kenyans working abroad from the current 4 million mark.
"We have approximately 4 million Kenyans working outside Kenya and it is our intention to expand the pool of Kenyans working outside the country," he added. Kenyans can fit in any economy in the world. We have a high-quality labour force. They are known for less supervision and high output. It is one of the assets we have as a country and we want to share it with the rest of the world."
The bigger picture: On Sunday, Labour and Social Protection Cabinet Secretary Alfred Mutua confirmed Kenya had entered into bilateral talks with Qatar, aimed at finalising a new Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). The aim of this engagement is to amend the 2012 bilateral labour agreement, which mainly focused on unskilled labour migration.
With the new deal, Mutua expects the Kenyan labour force in Qatar to rise from 67,000 to 200,000. This will not only unlock mammoth employment opportunities for Kenyans, but it will also extend the country's skilled labour force to Qatar and beyond.
Since there is a new Visa centre in Nairobi, fears of potentially getting duped into non-existent or unrelated jobs in the Gulf are set to be quashed as contracts will be properly signed and necessary documentation is completed before the workers leave for Qatar.
The deal with Qatar is part of the President's broader strategy to open up more employment opportunities for Kenyans overseas. In fact, Qatar is not the only international market Kenya has been in contact with in recent weeks.
After Ruto's recent talks with Germany, the door has been opened for the deployment of Kenyan professionals in the European superpower in sectors such as healthcare, engineering, and information technology.
