Maraga Hits Out At The Gov't Hours After Ksh200k Qatar Jobs Announcement

Maraga Hits Out At The Gov’t Hours After Ksh200k Qatar Jobs Announcement

Former Chief Justice David Maraga chastised President William Ruto over the government’s labour export policy, in which certain employees abroad were reportedly paid Ksh200,000 per month.

In a statement made on Thursday, November 20, Maraga promised to abolish the labor export scheme if elected President, referring to it as modern-day slavery.

Maraga condemned Ruto’s decision to expand chances for Kenyans to work overseas as contradictory to the nature of elected leadership, arguing that the government should have provided more opportunities at home.

“Our beloved Africa still lives with the unspoken wounds of losing her children to enslavement centuries ago,” Maraga noted.

“Shipped across the oceans, the depletion of Africa’s best talent is a tale that seems to be repeating itself in 21st-century Kenya, only this time, through the seemingly innocuous guise of helping young people earn a living abroad.”

Our beloved Africa still lives with the unspoken wounds of losing her children to enslavement centuries ago. Shipped across the oceans, the depletion of Africa’s best talent is a tale that seems to be repeating itself in 21st Century Kenya, only this time, through the seemingly…
— David Maraga (@dkmaraga) November 20, 2025

“My government will jealously protect our people as our most treasured resource,” he added.

“It is against the very nature of elected governance to trade off our people as labour to foreign lands instead of expanding opportunities at home and ending the corruption that is bleeding our economy.”

His comments came after the New York Times published a story revealing that Kenyan workers abroad, mainly in Gulf countries, were being tortured and mistreated at work.

The article found that the government benefitted from sending workers abroad, with recruitment agencies associated with government officials apparently earning $1,000 (Ksh129,950) for each person moved abroad.

The New York Times has an article that shows Kenya's shift in policy from exporting crops to exporting workers.

It then links this shift to the rising abuse of Kenyan domestic workers in Saudi Arabia where they are also paid about 40% less than Filipinos doing the same job. pic.twitter.com/4FGaWaW0OP
— Mwango Capital (@MwangoCapital) November 15, 2025

However, Labour Cabinet Secretary Alfred Mutua disputed charges of abuse and mistreatment on Wednesday, pointing out that Kenyan workers abroad were well-paid, particularly in Qatar.

He provided an example of 100 diploma-level nurses working in home care in Qatar. These occupations pay up to Ksh200,000.

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Mutua further revealed that the government expected that between 100,000 and 250,000 Kenyans would secure legal and safe jobs abroad next year.

Back in October, Ruto disclosed that the government had secured 13,000 new jobs in Qatar for Kenyans, after he held talks with the Qatar Labour Minister Ali bin Saeed bin Samikh Al Marri.

The opportunities were to be complemented with a new Qatari visa centre.

Ruto asserted that the labour programme would enable Kenyan workers to acquire global experience and training that they would ultimately bring back home to support Kenya’s development.

Maraga Hits Out At The Gov’t Hours After Ksh200k Qatar Jobs Announcement