This archive report was first published on 29 October 2021.
On October 29, 2021, Nominated Member of Parliament David Ole Sankok made a sensational claim while in Saudi Arabia, where he met with the country's Ministry of Labour officials to discuss the plight of Kenyan workers in Gulf countries.
According to Sankok, Kenyan women working as domestic workers in the Middle East are often picked from Nairobi's 'red-light' district, Koinange Street. He accused recruitment agencies of sourcing labourers from brothels such as Sabina Joy, without providing proper training.
“From my assessment, the problem is Kenya recruitment agents pick girls from Koinange street, bars, and brothels and export them as immigrant workers without pre-departure training on laws, traditions and cultures of foreign countries,” Sankok wrote on his Facebook page.
He also claimed that these agencies do not train immigrant workers properly, saying, “Even back home you can not pick a househelp from Koinange Street or Sabina Joy and expect house services without parental control.”
Sankok vowed to institute amendments to the labour migration laws when he returns to Kenya, requiring Kenyan immigrant workers to have good morals and the right education. He also pledged to lobby for the signing of bilateral agreements to protect Kenyan workers in the Middle East.
