Kenya wants to recruit domestic workers for Kuwait: Kenyan envoy

The Ambassador of the Republic of Kenya to Kuwait, and the accredited to Bahrain and Lebanon, H.E. Halima Mahmoud, said about 1,500 Kenyan citizens have passed the skilled workers admission tests to work in Kuwait in various sectors, out of the more than 5,000 who applied for the tests, reports Al-Rai daily.

In a statement to Al-Rai, the Kenyan envoy said those who passed the interviews will arrive in Kuwait next December, and added, “There is consensus for the signing of a memorandum of understanding for the recruitment of domestic workers from Kenya, which is expected to be signed soon.”

She went on to say, “We want to bring our domestic workers to Kuwait.” There are about 300,000 Kenyans working in the Gulf Cooperation Council countries, more than half of whom are in the domestic labor sector, including 150,000 in Saudi Arabia, more than 70,000 in Qatar, and about 50,000 in Dubai.”

She explained, “no labor agreement has been signed with Kuwait, but the discussions are positive about signing a memorandum of understanding in the field of this work, saying the Kenyan Foreign Minister was scheduled to visit Kuwait at the end of last October, but the visit was postponed due to changes in the Council of Ministers in Nairobi, and the minister was transferred to the tourism portfolio and another minister was appointed in his place.

“We are waiting to arrange a new date for the visit of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs and Labor to Kuwait, to sign the memorandums of understanding, most notably the agreement to recruit domestic workers, and the memorandum of understanding regarding the direct flight between the two countries that was agreed upon.”