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{
    "id": 948353,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/948353/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 452,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Nyatike, ODM",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Tom Odege",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13459,
        "legal_name": "Tom Mboya Odege",
        "slug": "tom-mboya-odege"
    },
    "content": " Okay, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker. Let me contribute to the Report. I happen to participate in a committee or organisation where we were dealing with migration of workers in this country, especially health workers, and we came to learn that we cannot stop workers from migrating. What do we do as a country? It is common knowledge to everybody in this country that our job market cannot absorb our youth. It is already bloated and we have people looking for jobs. When people look for jobs, whether we like it or not, they will migrate. Wherever they go, if the country cannot track them and see that they are safe, they will still migrate. We have a number of challenges as a country. Kenyans were chased from Tanzania just the other day. We are quiet about it. Kenyans were chased from South Africa just the other day. We have three countries which have accepted our workers. These three countries have accepted our Government’s plea and entered into a bilateral agreement with them. We need to use this opportunity to ensure that our people who migrate to those countries are safe and we negotiate for their favourable terms and working conditions. However, if we condemn a country which has accepted our workers and it turns its back on our employees going there, we are going to block a very huge job market for our people. Those who have visited Saudi Arabia can authoritatively report here that over 55,000 Kenyans are there. Even though previously we used to have cases where people suffered, for the last one year, we are reporting in this House that there is a very big improvement. We need to ensure that we compete with countries which are sending their citizens to that country. There should be a very competitive job market for them because if we block these people, the people we have here currently will still migrate unofficially. Today, we are very lucky because migrants are aware that before they leave this country, they need to be documented. If this one is not strengthened on the ground, then we have a responsibility as a House to demand that the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection documents every Kenyan before they leave this country. When you are documented, you are traceable in the embassies abroad, but if you sneak out and you are not documented, you will suffer. I was affected. My niece whom I educated was conned by an agency and went to Saudi Arabia. She took two good years without any communication with us and a Good Samaritan saved her. The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposes only. Acertified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}