Alfred Mutua Exposes Tricks Leading To Kenyans In Saudi Arabia Arrested, Deported

Foreign and Diaspora Affairs Cabinet Secretary (CS) Alfred Mutua has revealed how Kenyans who travel to Saudi Arabia to seek employment opportunities are being swindled by their fellow countrymen to take up opportunities outside their visa status while in the Middle East country, which end up costing them.

Speaking to Citizen TV’s Jeff Koinange on Wednesday, January 18, Mutua recounted how during his last visit to Saudi Arabia, he was shocked to find out that nearly 30 of the 100 Kenyans who fly into that country disappear from the airport, away from their destination.

To make matters worse, he exposed that those who vanish from the airport are actually taken by their fellow countrymen to other venues to engage in illegal activity.

An image of Saudi Arabia's capital city, Riyadh, at night. /FILE

“When you go to Saudi Arabia, it is a country that tells you very clearly, you come here and you work, you don’t want to work, say you’re quitting and you go home…very clearly. But stay at the place you are working. 

“When I was there I was surprised that when 100 Kenyans get there, about 20-30 vanish at the airport. They don’t get to their intended destination. They are picked up by other Kenyans to undertake illicit activity,” he said.

According to him, the Kenyans are recruited by other Kenyans to side hustles that have the capability of earning them extra money or asked to ditch their existing employers to work for other employers who pay more, which makes them fall out of status and become runaways.

Kenyans are sponsored by their employers and get access to free medical care as long as they possess a card indicating the credentials of their employer.

Mutua warned that falling out of visa status in Saudi Arabia lands one in trouble because they have broken the laws of the country, thus not only do they have trouble getting treatment, they are subsequently arrested and deported back to the country.

“The system is very clear, you are sponsored by your employer. When you’re sick, when you go to the hospital, you’re given free treatment but you have a card that shows who has employed you. When you fall out of status, then you’re now an illegal because you have broken your visa status, so you cannot get treatment but they have not stopped you from getting treatment.

“Any Kenyan in Saudi Arabia can wake up today, go to any hospital in Saudi Arabia, and get full treatment; theatre and everything…100 per cent free. But if they are out of status, they’ll treat you and then they will deport you,” he said.

Mutua added that Kenyans who don’t wish to be deported devise new tricks to beat the dragnet that includes staying with their fellow countrymen who are runaways and who film them airing their plight on social media, taking over-the-counter medication as seeking medical attention risks them being exposed.

“Kenyans who don’t want to be deported don’t go to the hospital. They stay at home with the other Kenyans who are runaways. So when you see Kenyans with videos being taken, they are being taken by other Kenyans and they are not being taken at their workplace and they are taking Panadol because that’s what you can get at the chemist without a prescription and you can’t get a prescription because you can’t see a doctor; if you see a doctor, they will get you arrested and deported to Kenya, but they don’t want to be deported to Kenya, they want to work illegally,” he noted.

Mutua further accused the agencies responsible for connecting girls to employment opportunities in Saudi Arabia of not investing in properly training them, especially on how to use electric appliances such as microwaves and dishwashers at their place of work.

Nonetheless, he offered a respite to Kenyans employed in Saudi Arabia who are in distress and feel like they are being mistreated by dialling +966 500 755 060 or toll-free number 19911.

“There is somebody manning it 24/7 and they’ll respond. If they are not manning it, write to me as the minister and I’ll get them fired,” he added.

Foreign Affairs CS Alfred Mutua with Jeff Koinange at Citizen TV studios on January 18, 2023. /ALFRED MUTUA