Kenya's growing workforce abroad

By Robert Mutasi

Kenya's labour export sector is growing considerably; Qatar has proved to be among the leading destinations for highly trained personnel.

Musaalia Mudavadi, the Kenyan prime cabinet secretary, and Mohammed Al-Enazi, an envoy from the state of Qatar to Kenya, met and continued to assure them that the gulf state would continue expanding work opportunities to its citizens.

It was purposed to advance cooperation between the countries in terms of culture and employment.

This is exclusive of 7,000 Kenyans whom Qatar employed in 2024, bringing the number of Kenyans employed in Qatar to 75,000.

The employment opportunities have created a new turning point for Kenya's labor export industry and brought much-needed relief to thousands of Kenyans who look for jobs abroad.

Continuous infrastructure development and the World Cup fuel Qatar's high-growth economy, which is in dire need of skilled workers across a range of fields.

One of the most significant agreements reached during the talks was that Qatar would hire 200 Kenyans into its National Police Force.

This recruitment encompasses people with qualifications ranging from those who have just finished high school to those with college degrees, showing increased confidence in Kenyan know-how, particularly in the security sector.

Their inclusion in the Kenyan security personnel is further evidence of the professionalism and good training that Kenyan workers bring to their jobs abroad.

The discussions highlighted the possibility of other sectors, especially in health and education, apart from security.

Mudavadi emphasized that for Kenya to further strengthen its linguistic and cultural presence in Qatar, it is necessary that Kiswahili teachers be included in the next phase of hiring to allow Kenyan tutors to teach a new generation of Gulf students in one of the most spoken languages in Africa.

Besides employment, the meeting took on capacity-building programs and media partnerships, indicative of a wider partnership between the two countries.

Mudavadi, for the first time in Africa, invited business leaders from Qatar to join the World Chambers Congress in Nairobi.