Introduction
Kenya has long been a significant exporter of labour. Its workers are employed across the Gulf countries. The conditions under which that migration has historically occurred have been a source of persistent and well documented concern.
Domestic workers and lower-skilled labourers in particular have been exposed to a range of abuses in destination countries such as passport confiscation by employers, restrictions on freedom of movement and in more serious cases, physical abuse and denial of access to consular assistance. They are the product, in large part, of an insufficiently regulated recruitment ecosystem where private employment agencies operate with minimal accountability, and the Kenyan state has no efficient institutional presence once a worker had departed.
The Labour Migration Management Bill, 2024, introduced before the Senate in March 2024, is the legislative response to that gap. Its principal object is to provide for the regulation of private employment agencies, the recruitment of workers within and outside Kenya and to safeguard the rights and welfare of job seekers and migrant workers. More broadly, it seeks to consolidate laws relating to labour migration, which is currently dispersed across various labour acts. It seeks to bring it within a framework that is structured, transparent and protective of the workers it governs.
Proposed Provisions of the Bill
- Regulation of Private Employment Agencies
The Bill seeks to establish a regulatory framework for private employment agencies, administers by the National Employment Authority. Every agency must be registered with the Authority before it may lawfully operate. Registration is subject the fulfilment of qualification criteria including experience in human resource management and provision of an undertaking accepting liability for their commissions and omissions. Registration certificates are valid for one year and non-transferable. Directors of agencies convicted of human trafficking are expressly disqualified as are those found contravening leadership and integrity provisions of the Constitution.
- Role of County and National Governments
The Bill distributes regulatory responsibility across two tiers of government in a manner that reflects the devolved structure of Kenya’s constitutional framework. At the national level, the National Employment Authority (NEA) is the primary administrative body, responsible for registration, oversight and maintenance of a migrant workers online portal. The Authority is mandated to establish county offices and engage county governments in the performance of its functions. A multi-agency committee on the vetting of private employment agencies is responsible for vetting and approving registration applications from private employment agencies.
County governments carry a complementary set of responsibilities. Every private employment agency must obtain a county operating license from the relevant county executive committee member, in addition to its national registration certificate. The dual-licensing requirement creates a layered accountability system. County governments are also mandated to maintain databases of migrant workers from their respective counties in collaboration with NEA and facilitate the reintegration of returning migrant workers into their countries of origin.
- Labour Attaches and Bilateral Labour Agreements
One of the Bill’s most operationally significant provisions is the mandatory deployment of Labour Attache’s to every Kenya Mission abroad. These officers serve as the institutional presence of the Kenyan state in destination countries. Their functions are extensive from authenticating job orders to attending to complaints from migrant workers. They operate under the authority of the head of the Mission and their reports to the Cabinet Secretary for Foreign Affairs are suggested to contain the data on workers in distress, estimates of job opportunities and the implementation status of any bilateral agreements in force.
At the diplomatic level, the Bill suggests the deployment of Kenyan workers abroad on the condition that there is an existence of adequate protections in the receiving country. The Bill empowers the national government to conclude Bilateral Labour Agreements (BLA) and other instruments with receiving countries on principles that include fair recruitment and respect for workers’ human dignity and rights.
- The Migrant Workers Welfare Fund and Safe Houses
The Bill provides for the establishment of a Migrant Workers Welfare Fund designed to provide protection and assistance to Kenyan migrant workers across the full migration cycle. The Bill does not fully prescribe the detailed mechanics of the Fund leaving those to be elaborated in regulations. The Fund is established under framework of the Public Finance Management Act ensuring a degree of fiscal accountability and governance. Separately, the Cabinet Secretary of Foreign Affairs is required to establish safe houses in labour destination countries to provide temporary shelter and support migrant workers in distress. These two provisions together create a practical safety net for workers who find themselves in difficult circumstances abroad, independent of the actions of the private employment agency that recruited them.
Regional Legislative Context
This legislation does not exist in isolation. Ethiopia enacted its Overseas Employment Proclamation in 2016, later amended in 2021 in response to comparable exploitation of its workers in the Gul, establishing a structural framework that has had improvements in formal recruitment channels and diplomatic engagement with destination countries. South Africa, as a receiving country, presents a different dimension where its legislative framework extends labour protections to all workers regardless of their migration documentation status. However, there are several enforcement gaps limiting the practical impact of those protections.
Conclusion
The Labour Migration Management Bill, 2024, is a necessary piece of legislation addressing principal structural failures that have left Kenyan migrant workers exposed to exploitation. With amendments to some of the implementation challenges it poses, the Bill would provide protection for exported labourers and strengthen the foundation of this sector.