Mutua recounts emotional moments with beneficiaries of Kazi Majuu programme
Labourt Cabinet Secretary Alfred Mutua has recounted the emotional experiences of beneficiaries of Kazi Majuu initiative, a labour mobility program by the government of Kenya aimed at helping youths secure jobs overseas.
Speaking during a live TV interview on Wednesday, May 7, 2025, the Labour CS said such moments are what keep him awake at night, stressing his endeavour to continue changing the lives of youths and families through increased access to employment opportunities.
The CS opined that the program has largely been a success, contrary to the prevailing public perception.
“My joy is when I see young people get the opportunities. I’ve been at the airport, and you see a young man standing there with tears in his eyes. Some of them have never been to an airport, but finally, they see their dream of employment come true. You see mothers coming to hug me at the airport, crying because their sons have been unemployed for five years,” he stated.
“This is what keeps me awake at night because I know these people are suffering, and I need to offer them the opportunities. I’m going to keep my eyes on the ball and on the bigger responsibility and not get distracted with people who may be commenting and writing,” Mutua reminisced.
Score card
Mutua further acknowledged the need for the program to adopt a proper relaying of information and better communication.
“Where we have failed to do a good job is on the aspect of people being communicated to properly, and we are correcting that. Overall, if I’m to rate our work, we are at 80 per cent,” Mutua remarked.
The CS also disclosed that the majority of deaths of Kenyans working overseas have been attributed to incidents where the victims abandoned their original work stations.
Mutua stated that many 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.
“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 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.
