Kericho County Senator Aaron Cheruiyot on Monday clarified his proposed bill aimed at preventing workers from suing tech companies in Kenya. His bill comes two months after the Court of Appeal ruled that Facebook’s parent company, Meta, can be sued in Kenya in a case filed by over 180 content moderators.
Taking to his official X handle, Cheruiyot clarified that the Business Laws Amendment Bill was seeking to make Kenya globally competitive to attract investors while observing our own labour laws.
“This is a two-part bill made up of various business laws from different industry players collated by Min of Trade and Industry under the ease of doing business and global competitiveness program. Basically, laws which the industry is asking us to review to make us more attractive for investment,” he explained.
The Senate Majority Leader, highlighted the clause that seeks to prevent workers from suing tech employees saying it concerns players in the Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) sector.
“This particular clause is the proposal from the Ministry for the players in the B.P.O space. A growing sector that currently employs thousands with the potential to explode and employ millions,” he stated, adding that the clause seeks to attract investments in the sector, tapping into Kenya’s young population.
The Senator observed that for Kenya to fully realise its full potential, favourable policies need to be made to attract industry players in the BPO in a bid to address unemployment in Kenya.
Cheruiyot argued that BPO companies have shown interest in Kenya because the country has many fluent English speakers and the presence of a good number of tech-savvy young people.
He dismissed the notion that once the bill sails through workers will not be protected. Tech companies will still be mandated to observe certain labour standards and handle all HR-related disputes with their employees in the countries they operate in.
“Remember the employment agreement is between the Kenyan employee and the BPO as such that when a dispute arises, the laws of the land apply,” he asserted.
Cheruiyot, however, noted there was need to curb the exploitation and manipulation of Kenyan workers, thus stringent measures need to be made. “Maybe we could tighten the drafting to ensure the BPOs observe an even higher standard of labour practice to alley the fears many have,” he added.
The proposed legislation will undergo public participation. Cheruiyot therefore called on interested parties to give their input before the trade committee which is handling the bill.
The court had previously ruled that Kenyan courts have jurisdiction over the matter, but Meta challenged the ruling on appeal.
