CS Mutua dismisses reports of overseas job program being a scam

The government has denied that the overseas job program is a scam.

Labour Cabinet Secretary Dr Alfred Mutua says job seekers who secured job offers abroad have been leaving the country to take up the jobs.

The CS spoke after a week of damning testimony in the Senate, where applicants testified that they had received job offers but had not gotten the actual jobs despite payments to government-approved agencies to facilitate overseas employment.

"These people who have been conned are not part of the government processes. Those are people who are being taken advantage of by people who are conning Kenyans because of desperation,” said CS Mutua.

But some of the applicants who went through the government-approved agencies have raised issues about the time it takes to get the jobs despite having paid the requisite fees for processing.

"So you're offered a job, be patient. If you feel you don't want to go, just come and say, 'I don't want to go, give me back my money.' If someone does not give you back your money, come to me — we’ll make sure we give you back. But this story that 'my life is ruined, I was offered a job, I have not travelled' — no. You were offered a job, but you haven't travelled yet. I don't buy that excuse that life is ruined because of that,” Mutua noted.

The CS says those who went through the government-approved agents have been travelling out of the country in batches and will continue to do so.

He, however, cautioned against using non-qualified agents for foreign job placements, as he promised a crackdown on such outfits — a process that the ministry says it has already begun.

"We had 1,200 agencies; we have sifted and now have only 500, and we will continue to do so,” Labour Principal Secretary Shandrack Mwadime.

A total of 60 job seekers will depart the country for Iraq, Qatar, Serbia, Germany and Russia on Saturday.

The ministry says so far more than 1,000 job seekers have already left the country under the overseas job program out of a possible 3,000 that were prequalified in the October 2024 recruitment drive.

Mutua is set to appear before the Senate next week to provide answers on the fate of job seekers who have accused his ministry of overseeing the recruitment programme that has left some of the job seekers in debt and without the promised jobs.