Kenyans suffer abroad as millions for repatriation lie idle in banks

Hundreds of Kenyan migrant workers might be stranded, distressed or even deceased in foreign countries as money meant to help them return home continues to lie idle in banks.

A new probe has revealed that recruitment agencies pay millions to the National Employment Authority (NEA) to support repatriation of citizerns who are stranded abroad. 

However, lack of regulations guiding the National Employment Authority on how to use the funds has seen them lie idle in banks for 10 years as families struggle to bring back their loved ones.

A Parliamentary probe by the National Assembly’s Diaspora Affairs and Migrant Workers Committee, has shown that each recruitment agency pays a mandatory Sh1.5 million security bond, that recruitment agencies are required to deposit for repatriation and emergency support.

However, Kenya has no functional regulations specifying who is legally responsible for repatriating workers when crises arise.

“We have experienced challenges in utilising the bond due to lack of regulations, therefore, we have not been able to use it. We cannot touch the bond, the regulations do not exist,” National Employment Authority director-general Edith Okoki told the committee.

As a result, the bond intended to finance emergency returns, medical evacuations and the repatriation of remains has never been utilised by the authority since its introduction in 2016.

The committee sessional chair, Lang’ata MP Felix Odiwuor, expressed outrage as he recounted incidents in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Dubai and Lebanon, where Kenyans in distress were unable to return home.

Odiwuor highlighted cases in which Kenyan missions abroad admitted that families often fundraise for burials despite the existence of the bond.

He noted that desperate families, employers in host countries and occasionally the Ministry of Foreign Affairs are left scrambling to raise funds when Kenyans abroad fall into distress.

“What will it take for the employment authority to use the funds and who is incharge of bringing back Kenyans is it the agencies of NEA,” paused Odiwuor.

NEA Immigration Director Joseph Njue admitted that the agency is effectively powerless, although private recruitment agencies must execute a Sh1.5 million bond.

He added that the law does not spell out who should activate the bond, how it should be accessed or who should initiate repatriation.

“In the absence of the law, sometimes we are forced to go to insurance they tell us the agency should do the repatriation, the agency claims its us who should and the insurance should pay us thereafter,” said Njue.

The NEA officials pointed to the long-delayed Migrant Workers Welfare Fund, a central feature of the draft Labour Migration Management Bill which is intended to finance emergency repatriations, medical evacuations, psychosocial support, legal aid, survivor benefits and pre-departure training.

They argued that with the bill stalled, the fund remains only a proposal, offering no relief to workers currently in distress.

The parliamentary committee pressed NEA to intervene directly in urgent cases and criticised the years-long failure to enact regulations governing repatriation, asking why the agency continues to operate a system it cannot enforce.