Untamed, faceless agents making a killing as Kenyans suffer in Middle East

They prey on hope and thrive on desperation. This combination gives agents an irresistible allure that has, for decades, attracted a stream of young women and men into their hold and further onwards to the Gulf States.

Sometimes, the recruits make something of their lives. Sometimes they don’t. The only winners in the years that the movement of labour from villages around Kenya to these countries has gone on have been the recruiters.

Like the proverbial casinos, they are the house that never loses. And as graves increasingly dot homesteads around the country, theirs are the only deals that continue to play winning hands.