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    "id": 1119990,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1119990/?format=api",
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    "content": "Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, without imputing improper motives on all the agencies because I know some of them are proper. However, there are some agencies, because of their commercial nature are sending girls away like potatoes. We are told like for every domestic worker who is taken there, the agent receives USD1500 to USD1900. What do you do? You rush, collect people and put them in a dormitory. I saw a news story the other day of Kenyans stuck somewhere in Thika Town and they cannot come out. They were told they were going to do a different kind of work, but later told it was domestic work. It has become so commercial that we are seeing Kenyans as commodities. We need to see that attachment. We have said that there must be fresh vetting and reregistration of all the local recruitment agencies, with the vetting standards to be determined by the Ministry of Labour through the National Employment Authority (NEA). To this end, no entity will be allowed to recruit Kenyan migrant workers unless it is registered and regulated in Kenya. There are also foreign entities that have come here and taken the girls directly, yet we have a law. I sponsored that law on the NEA in the last Parliament. The reason we put it in place, having the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Labor and Social Protection, Federation of Kenya Employers (FKE) representations from the technical training institutes and universities was to make sure there was accountability when it comes to labor migration. We are not exporting potatoes. These are mothers and peoples‟ daughters. These are peoples‟ children and sisters. We must think of them keenly as Kenyans worth dignity. Fifthly, before we reopen labor migration of domestic workers to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, there must be an establishment of fully-fledged labor offices. There must also be safe houses in Riyadh, Jeddah, accessible to any Kenyan in distress, until their status is established, and they are able to be brought back. I know this will really prick Sen. Halake because she has such a heart for such cases. We have had cases of where a Kenyan domestic worker is being abused and goes to the embassy with her employer from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The case is first of all an allegation, but it could be true. The immediate stance is to take the side of the employer. After she has said everything, she is told to go back with that employer as they process. What happens to that lad when she is going back to that house where she is being abused? We need safe houses for them. What is the cost of putting up a safe house with sanitation facilities, kitchen, beddings which is human dignity? All must be done. Sixth is the formal recognition of the Welfare Association of Kenyans in Saudi Arabia. I have given the example. This would be what we call Jaliat . I hope am saying it right for those who understand Arabic. The Kenya Jaliat Group used to relay us with the Embassy, and they worked very well with the former ambassador who became the Governor of Wajir that this House impeached. They worked very well with this Jaliat ."
}