This archive report was first published on 30 August 2021.
Published on August 30, 2021, statistics from Kenya's Ministry of Labour revealed a disturbing trend: 97 Kenyans working in Saudi Arabia had been killed in the past two years.
This translates to four Kenyans killed every month or one Kenyan every week, with many more subjected to heinous crimes such as rape, torture, and degrading abuse.
One harrowing tale of a Kenyan girl who escaped from Saudi Arabia and shared her story on television serves as a stark reminder of the horrors faced by many migrant workers.
After searching in vain for a job in Kenya, she was lured by opportunities in Saudi Arabia and paid a sizeable fee to a local recruiting agency to facilitate her travel to a domestic worker position in a middle-class family.
Upon arrival, her employers confiscated her passport, forcing her to work from dawn till late at night, and fed her dog food. She was also subjected to repeated rape by her employers and their sons.
When she asked for her salary, she was told it was being paid to the recruiting agency. She managed to escape and return to Kenya, but many others like her were not so lucky, returning in body bags.
Kenya's Labour minister, instead of taking responsibility for the deaths and mistreatment of Kenyan workers, blamed the victims and announced a fact-finding mission to Saudi Arabia, accompanied by several officials.
However, this move has been met with skepticism, with many questioning the effectiveness of such a mission and the minister's true intentions.
Leadership requires creating policies that protect and empower citizens, not just paying lip service to their concerns.
It is also worth asking whether African governments and the international community would have taken a stronger stance if these crimes had occurred in Europe or America.
Tee Ngugi is a Nairobi-based political commentator.
