Kenyan Workers Get Abused Abroad. The President’s Family and Allies Profit.The reports were piling in, one worse than the next. Kenyan maids working in Saudi Arabia had their passports confiscated, wages denied and food withheld. Some were beaten by their bosses for offenses as minor as not knowing how to operate a washing machine. Others were killed.
Instead of demanding that the Saudi government protect these women, President William Ruto of Kenya pledged to send even more workers to Saudi Arabia, more quickly and less prepared than before. And he instituted policies that made it more profitable for employment companies to do just that.
But today in Kenya, a New York Times investigation found, Mr. Ruto’s government functions as an arm of a staffing industry that sends poor workers abroad in droves. Politicians started their own employment companies to capitalize on the boom, and the government rolled back worker protections, maximizing industry profits.
Even Mr. Ruto’s family makes money. His wife and daughter are the largest shareholders of the staffing industry’s major insurance company, records show.
Lots of developing nations send workers to the Persian Gulf. Mr. Ruto’s government has built an entire economic policy around it. He proudly notes that remittances are now a bigger share of Kenya’s economy than tea and coffee, historically its most important exports.
Other nations have successfully pressed Saudi Arabia for stronger worker protections and increased wages. Kenya has not. Mr. Ruto’s government has positioned Kenyans as among the cheapest, least-protected workers in the marketplace.
Top officials play down clear evidence of abuse and blame Kenyan women for bringing violence upon themselves. Leading politicians treat any questions about mistreatment as obstacles to Mr. Ruto’s economic ambitions.
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