Ban domestic workers from going to the Gulf

Yet another Kenyan domestic worker has died in mysterious circumstances in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Salama Nyamvula Bongo died in Abu Dhabi in October and her body was flown to Kenya on Thursday last week for burial.

According to her mother, the 24-year-old from Kilifi County died after working for only one-and-a-half months in Abu Dhabi. Her devastated family claims they have not been provided with any medical report showing the cause of her death.

Sadly, this is not the first such case, neither will it be the last. There have been many other cases of Kenyans who have died under similar cloudy circumstances in the Middle East for several years now.

Last month, Melsa Adhiambo Makhokha, 28, from Mumias also died under mysterious circumstances in Saudi Arabia. In another shocking incident, a woman by the name of Viola is said to have been sentenced to death after she was allegedly raped and impregnated by her employer in the same country.

The level of brutality against migrant domestic workers, not only Kenyans, in the Arab Middle East countries is mind-boggling. However, despite the horror tales, desperate Kenyans continue to flock these countries in search of a better life.

The Government blames rogue recruitment agencies for this exodus to slavery. In 2014, the Government banned 150 agencies from recruiting workers for the Middle East countries. But the move appears to have been empty rhetoric as the agencies continue to transact their business unhindered and the tide of desperate Kenyans headed to these destinations continues to surge.

While appreciating of the horrors that Kenyans face abroad, Foreign Secretary Amina Mohammed in June called for a complete ban of domestic workers from travelling to Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

She told a Senate Standing Committee that a task force that she appointed to probe the plight of domestic workers in the two countries had revealed that they were suffering like "slaves".

It is time the Government got serious and banned in toto this business of death. It should now follow up its words with action and stop these modern-day slave voyages once and for all.