Mutua attributes deaths of Kenyans overseas to runaway incidents
Labour and Social Protection Cabinet Secretary Alfred Mutua has attributed the deaths of Kenyans working overseas to incidents where the victims abandoned their original work stations.
Speaking during a live TV interview on Wednesday, May 7, 2025, the CS said a majority of casual workers have met their deaths after abandoning their employers’ harsh working conditions, only to fall victim to the exploitative demands of unscrupulous people or crime syndicate areas.
Mutua decried the involvement of fellow Kenyans, whom he chastised for playing a role in persuading many to leave their employers.
“According to the documents we have, the majority of those who die, and most of them are girls, do not die in the households where they were working. There is an aspect called runaways, where people run away from their employer after a few months, maybe because of what was going on in the work environment. They don’t come back home and end up getting these illegal jobs in other areas,” Mutua stated.
He says the fugitives later become vulnerable without medical cover, hence easy prey for exploitation.
“He says the fugitives have been rendered vulnerable, without essential services such as medical coverage, hence easy prey for exploitation.
“Most of them later fall prey to people who recruit them in these illegal activities because they don’t want to get deported. They end up being misused, tortured, raped, or even killed,” he stated.
The CS also commented on the disturbing past incidents of Kenyans who were tortured in Myanmar, refuting claims of government involvement in transporting the individuals to the Asian nation.
“The people who went to Myanmar were not taken there under any government project or program at all. Not a single one went there under the government. They went through fake people by going through the internet and went with tourist visas to Thailand, not even Myanmar. I talked to the victims; they saw the jobs online. Some of the agencies that took them there are travelling agencies and not recruitment agencies,” Mutua said.
In mitigating the challenge, Mutua stressed the importance of educating and empowering the prospective labour force with relevant knowledge on their rights.
“We need to empower Kenyans so that they are not taken advantage of. I’m quite bothered seeing Kenyans back dead. It is an issue we are discussing at high echelons of government,” he added.
The CS further delved into the subject of the online jobs scam, where many Kenyans have fallen victim recently.
The CS made an interesting claim, stating that the victims of the foreign jobs scam are all from one community and incited by an unnamed politician.
”The people who are complaining that they paid Ksh 55,000 and have not travelled are all from one community. There is a problem because you ask yourself, This is a great community; why is it just from this community? And it is because they have been incited by somebody from that community. And you ask yourself, Why is it so and so from the same area and not from the other areas?” Mutua said.
