Foreign jobs lie as rogue recruitment agencies mint millions

When Grace M* approached an agency that had advertised jobs abroad on Facebook, she was full of hope and determination.

She dreamed of a better future—not just for herself, but for her entire family. The promise of opportunity in a foreign land seemed like the answer she had been waiting for: a chance to break free from poverty, to send money back home, and to build a life marked by dignity and progress.

She was told to pay Sh150,000 to cater for a human resource payment, medical fees, visa or paperwork processing fee and airfare.

But her dream of going a broad has never come true over a year later. What she has been left with is a huge debt and chasing the agency to refund her money.

“The agent has been taking me in circles, the agreement was if he fails to secure me a job he will refund but that has been a problem,” she told the Star.

Last month, police unravelled a mysterious human trafficking syndicate which has been recruiting Kenyans in the guise of work in Moscow, Russia, but end up joining Russian military, where they are deployed to the war front with Ukraine.

Transnational Organised Crime Unit of DCI led the ambush at Great Wall Apartments in Athi River, where 21 Kenyans were found housed awaiting processing to Russia.

The officers arrested Edward Kamau Gituku who was coordinating the processing of the victims to travel to Russia on diverse dates in September and October for enlistment in the military, under the guise of lucrative jobs abroad.

Although the Gituku pleaded innocent, telling the Star that he fell into the trap too, victims disclosed to the officers that they had signed an agreement with an unnamed oversees employment support agency binding them to pay between Sh1.65 million and Sh2.3 million for visas, travel, accommodation and logistics.

They disclosed that those who fail to pay within 35 days are charged a daily interest of one per cent as a penalty. Some of the victims indicated they had already paid deposits ranging from Sh50,000 to Sh100,000 upon being promised a salary of Sh200,000.

On September 20, a video surfaced on Facebook of Evans Kibet, a Kenyan aspiring athlete who was duped into joining the Ukraine-Russia war.

His confession did not only lift a lid on the ongoing racket targeting young people from poor backgrounds across the world, but also demonstrated the extend of human trafficking stemming from lack of jobs in the country and miles the poor are willing to go to survive in a tough economy.

Although such incidents were in the past synonymous with those seeking manual jobs in the Gulf and the Arab League, such incidents are now stretching to Asia, America and Europe, with the ongoing rift between Ukraine and Russia now a new cash cow.

The high unemployment rate in the country is pushing Kenyans to enlist for unspecified jobs abroad, with the majority ending up defrauded by conmen taking advantage of the dire situation.

Citizens of Somalia, Sierra Leone, Togo, Cuba and Sri Lanka, among others, are currently held in Ukrainian prisoner-of-war camps, Petro Yatsenko, Ukraine's spokesperson on the treatment of prisoners of war, told the BBC.

"Most of these individuals come from poorer countries and end up on the Russian side in different ways. Some are deceived— promised jobs at — while others join the war voluntarily. It is important to understand that very few are captured alive; most are either killed or seriously injured," he added.

Back in Kenya, Kibet's family and friends are in shock over what they have seen.

Kenya's overall unemployment rate in 2025 is estimated to be around five per cent to 5.6 per cent, with some projections showing a slight increase in the total number of unemployed people.

The youth unemployment rate for 2024 was reported at 11.9 per cent, though other sources claim much higher figures like 67 per cent due to different methodologies or focusing on specific age groups or the informal sector.

The high unemployment has continued to push more individuals into poverty with an estimated 20 million Kenyans likely to sleep hungry each day because they cannot meet their basic food and non-food needs, according to recent findings by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics.

The statistics body estimates that there is a 39.8 per cent overall national poverty headcount rate for individuals in the country.

Headcount rate refers to the percentage of the population living below the poverty line, indicating the proportion of individuals who are considered poor. It measures the incidence of poverty without accounting for the severity or depth of poverty.

A recent TIFA poll found that one in four Kenyans is unemployed. The number of job losses is also on the rise as companies restructure to survive a tough operating environment.

The Federation of Kenya Employers (FKE) has noted with concern the current wave of layoffs and pay cuts.

While it has not conducted a new survey this year, its latest survey (November 2024) showed that 65 per cent of employers felt the business environment had worsened, mainly due to high taxes (66.1 per cent), loss of business (17 per cent), and unfavorable policies (12.2 per cent).

Employers emphasised that reducing the tax burden and creating stable, predictable policies are critical to protecting jobs.

The KNBS Economic Survey 2024 further showed that in 2023, Kenya created 848,000 new jobs, but 85 per cent were in the informal sector, with only about 122,000 in the formal sector. This reflects the strain on enterprises and the limited growth of decent, stable jobs.

New jobs created in 2024 dropped to 782,300 according to the Economic Survey 2025, with majority being in the informal sector.

“Our take is that the employment environment is under significant pressure, but with urgent interventions, particularly tax reforms, clearing pending bills and strengthening social dialogue, we can stabilise businesses and protect jobs. The priority must be supporting enterprises today to safeguard employment tomorrow,” FKE executive director and CEO Jacqueline Mugo told the Star.

According to a report by career development and recruitment solutions company–BrighterMonday Kenya, the country’s universities, colleges and other training institutions are churning out up to two million individuals into the job market every year, against an average 800,000 jobs created.

Majority of them however lack the right skills being sought by employers, the firm says, leading to low absorption with just 10 per cent of the workforce in formal employment.

“One of the key things that really stands out is that there is a clear gap between what we are preparing the youth for versus what the market is demanding. Despite increased access to tertiary education, many young people are not market and work ready or aligned with modern employer needs,” BrighterMonday Kenya managing director Sarah Ndegwa said.

“And so, there needs to be very intentional conversations and thoughts around what we need to do to bridge that gap.”

The situation of being duped is so bad that the government is now advising Kenyans seeking employment opportunities outside the country to use the right channel.

It has also warned individuals to stop using tourist visas to seek employment.

Labour Principal Secretary Shadrack Mwadime confirmed that a number of Kenyans leave the country in search of opportunities abroad on tourist visas.

“I want to give a warning to young Kenyans that getting a tourist visa does not guarantee you a job in the international labour market. A work permit will guarantee you a job,” Mwandime said.

He made the remarks in Canada while on an official tour to source employment opportunities for skilled Kenyans.

Mwadime said many Kenyans have ended up wasting their resources on documents that do not merit.

“Rather than being cheated or hoodwinked, it is better that we create this pathway, and you are able to follow it to access the job that you need to take up in these countries of destination,” the PS said.

He also placed recruitment agencies on notice and warned that the government will take stern action against any agency that defrauded Kenyans.

“We do not want Kenyans to be duped or conned of their hard-earned money by agencies that are sometimes bogus. They place adverts on social media and hoodwink our young people concerning opportunities available abroad which are not there,” he said.

There are also cases of exploitation and abuse with many domestic workers in the Middle East reporting that contracts are changed, they have no rest days, are denied wages and work in inhumane conditions.

In some cases passports or IDs are taken away, which traps workers and makes it hard for them to escape abusive situations.

Scams and fraudulent recruitment practices also remain high where agencies promise lucrative jobs, take large fees in advance, then either the jobs don’t materialise or the conditions are very different from what was promised.

Even before leaving, people pay for travel documents, medical checks, visa fees among other charges which at times are prohibitively expensive.

Workers sign one contract at home, but on arrival abroad they are forced to sign something different—sometimes in a foreign language, with much worse terms, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Embassies or consulates may not always be helpful, according to the ministry, as there may be limited oversight, weak enforcement of labour laws or bilateral agreements that are not fully enforced.

Being in a different country, sometimes in restrictive environments, far from family, often under stressful or abusive conditions, takes a toll on individuals with reported deaths from time to time.