Entry Instance

HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept

{
    "id": 1273145,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1273145/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 362,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Ms. Florence Bore",
    "speaker_title": "The Cabinet Secretary for Labour and Social Protection",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "carried out a benchmarking study covering four countries where such funds have been put in place. The countries are the Philippines, Vietnam, Nepal and Sri Lanka. The study will inform the process of designing and establishing a Migrant Workers’ Welfare Fund in Kenya. A multi-agency technical committee to steer the process of establishment of the Fund has also been constituted. As provided in its manifesto, the Government of Kenya intends to establish a specialised social welfare kitty for Kenyan women working abroad to provide a safety net for those in distress. As a Ministry, we have developed a framework to facilitate portability of knowledge, skills, innovation, and technical resources available in the diaspora for national development. 7. Lastly, the Ministry, with the support of ILO, is working towards the establishment of a return and re-integration programme that will enable migrant workers to participate in national development while abroad and upon their return. A migrant resource centre has been put to use at the National Employment Authority (NEA) to offer assistance to returnees. The return and re-integration programme will focus on welfare assistance such as psycho-social counselling, legal assistance to distressed migrant workers, labour market information, employment facilitation services, skills upgrading, saving and investment opportunities, business and enterprise development and provision of information on health assistance and referral. The other question was on the regulatory steps taken to license recruitment agencies. The Ministry has established an elaborate mechanism for licensing and regulating private employment agencies. This system has enabled the Ministry to root out rogue recruitment agencies. An inter-ministerial vetting committee, with representation from key Government agencies, was established to vet all private employment agencies in the country. The Ministry of Labour and Social Protection chairs the committee, which comprises representatives of the Ministries responsible for immigration, labour, security, foreign affairs and the Office of the Attorney-General. The list of recruitment agencies can be found on the attached Appendix 3. There is also an oversight and community feedback mechanism which the Ministry has established to facilitate continuous monitoring of private employment agencies. A distress reporting mechanism, established through a web portal under the NEA information management system, and a toll-free line have been given to report migrant workers in distress. The number is 0800222223. We are also doing capacity building to the private recruitment agencies on a voluntary basis. Already, 167 of them have gone through this training. The Ministry is implementing a programme towards capacity building of the private recruitment agencies to enable adoption and adherence to the International Recruitment System Standards (IRSS). The IRSS relates to the entire recruitment process from recruitment, deployment, employment and return and onward migration. Already, 167 recruitment agencies have been taken through the introductory part of the training, 25 have already been enrolled in the capacity building programme towards certification while four have undergone mock audit towards certification. One of the observations is that data related to Kenyan migrant workers with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is very critical to inform policy formulation. However, the same information and data is segregated and maintained by various agencies with no synergy among them hence the estimates reported above. It would be prudent for all migrant workers to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, to be obligated to record their entry with the Embassy, develop a data-base to inform policy and collect the necessary details that can help prompt intervention to the multitude of grievances received and enhance collaboration with the Kingdom’s Authority both at the Kenyan national level and within the Kingdom, to mitigate the challenges manifested. The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}