Detectives from the Transnational Unit of the Director of Criminal Investigations (DCI) have busted an agency, holding 400 women in deplorable conditions in Kiambu County, destined for the Middle East.
The raid was carried out on Thursday, September 16, exposing the horrible living condition the women were in. The sleuths are questioning the proprietors of the agency for allegedly shortchanging and detaining some of the women against their will.
Raid in the training institution discovered the 400 students in training ready to be shipped to Qatar, with some claiming they had been duped that they would be deployed as nurses and teachers, only to be forced to sign contracts indicating that they will be house helps.
The detectives raided the government-registered institution after receiving a distress call from some of the students, and it now faces closure.
The women found during the raid are aged between 21 years to 50 years old.
The institution had rented a nearby church where the girls were being held, openly defying government directives to curb the pandemic. Social distancing had been thrown out of the window by the institution.
Others decried the sorry state of hygiene, claiming that the whole institution has only two toilets. The students have no choice of meals.
However, others found in the raid claimed that they had decided to stick and persevere with everything with the hope of landing employment opportunities.
The trainers in the institution stated that the institution usually receives students from all over the country for training before they are dispatched to Qatar.
The DCI who raided the institution confiscated the licenses of the institution and freed some of the women who claimed to have changed their minds about the trip altogether.
The plans to send them to the Middle East for employment comes amidst complaints by some Kenyans who are working there.
This incident comes just days after four Kenyan guards living and working in Qatar died in a grisly accident while heading to work on the evening of Wednesday, September 1.
According to international news outlets, the four guards were part of a team that was headed to work when the accident occurred.
The bus they were travelling in, reportedly belongs to the European Guard Company that was handling the migrant workers.
