Human migration in pursuit of opportunities is a phenomenon that has taken place throughout human history. With technological advancements, increased globalisation in the 21^st century, conflict, and the ripple effect of climate change, different opportunities and tragedies have emerged across the world triggering mass movements of people across borders. Foreign labour markets that offer higher pay and opportunities for personal and professional development today attract millions of Africans. For most Kenyans, the desire to migrate in pursuit of such opportunities is mainly caused by; lack of job prospects, low incomes, social insecurity, bureaucracy, poverty, corruption, and the desire for personal or professional gratitude. The lack of policy frameworks and governance measures that would create an environment for equitable development and professional growth additionally drives thousands of people into seeking job opportunities in foreign labour markets.

Oil-rich member states of the Gulf Cooperative Council(GCC) provide Kenyans who face limited social and economic prospects with an alternative to unemployment or spending years in vulnerable employment earning minimum wage. The number of Kenyans pursuing work opportunities in the Gulf region has resultantly been on a steady incline with more than 416,548 Kenyans working in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Oman, Kuwait, Iran, and Iraq as of 2024 – with the remittances that they send back home catering for the provision of basic needs, education, and healthcare for those they have left behind. Despite the opportunities it provides, working in the Gulf region exposes countless workers to exploitation and abuse while at the same time, Kenyans left at home have to cover the costs of providing care and support for those labourers who make it back home after experiencing various forms of abuse in foreign countries. In extreme cases, some of these workers have lost their lives as  a result of abuse at the workplace, leaving their families grappling with the double tragedy of grief and unanswered questions around the circumstances of these deaths.

The Kafala System

Kafala – a noun form of the root word k-f-l, which connotes; to support or feed, to guarantee or provide bail, and to provide legal guardianship or to sponsor.  

Most Kenyans who migrate to the Gulf region in search of work opportunities end up in the Kafala system. The Kafala system is rooted in traditional Bedouin hospitality as well as Islamic traditions of a guarantor providing assurances that a guaranteed person will repay a debt, deliver purchased goods, or pay bail money. Over the years, this system became a form of patronage where individuals from wealthy and powerful families provided support and protection for less powerful individuals or families who provided a service and pledged loyalty in return.

During the colonial era, the British colonial government adopted the Kafala system as a strategy of controlling labour in the Middle East and policing the vast empire. The racialisation of the Kafala system can be traced back to the colonial era when British colonial administrators used it to subject pearl divers to indentured servitude. The colonial administrators thereafter introduced sponsorship requirements to control the increasing number of migrant workers in the expanding oil industry.

In the post-colonial era, the Kafala system has morphed into a labour system under which employers in the Gulf obtain work visas for foreign workers. Most of the foreign workers sponsored through the Kafala system are either migrant workers or migrant domestic workers, for these are the two legally recognized categories. Patterns of employment such as outsourcing of labour, whereby one recruitment company accesses labour through another company, are common but not legally recognized.

There additionally exists Kafala as a rent-seeking activity whereby migrant workers pay rent to the kafeel to process their iqama. Although technically illegal, this form of labour brokerage has become a lucrative business for citizens across the Gulf region, making it one of the most common means through which migrant workers are able to work or manage businesses in Gulf countries. This form of Kafala as a labour brokerage system, which is often done in collaboration with local labour agencies in Kenya, makes migrant workers even more susceptible to abuse and exploitation.

Because of the colonial legacy, the post-colonial Kafala system remains racialised in Gulf Countries with non-white migrant workers subjected to poor working conditions, poverty, and abjection. Workers are forced to work for long hours, they experience harassment, restricted communication, sexual exploitation, physical violence, travel and identification document confiscation, and even loss of lives. The Kafala has today become a system of racialised institutional abuse, exploitation, and humiliation especially for Asian and African domestic and construction workers who are employed to perform tasks that are often deemed difficult, dangerous, dirty, and demeaning.

The Departmental Committee on Labor and Social Welfare in the Kenyan Parliament has reported an increase in cases of mistreatment of domestic workers in the Middle East – with most of the cases emanating from Saudi Arabia where human rights violations led to the death of ninety domestic workers of Kenyan nationality between 2019 and 2021, with an estimated 1908 distress calls being registered during this period. According to the Kenyan government, a further 316 Kenyans lost their lives in the Gulf Countries between 2022 and 2024, with 166 of these deaths (53%) recorded in Saudi Arabia.

Those Left Behind

The abuse and exploitation experienced within the Kafala System creates a ripple effect that is felt back home. First off, most of the migrant workers leave their families behind, with a considerable number being children. Parental migration has a significant impact on children’s well-being and development. Studies focusing on the impact of parental migration on children have revealed that the children who are left behind take up more responsibilities at home. Most of them perform various chores including caring for younger siblings, shopping, food preparation and animal care. As a result, children do not get enough time to focus on learning which can have a detrimental impact on their education outcomes. Some teenagers whose parents have migrated additionally experience challenges in their social interaction and development, resulting in various forms of isolation from the mainstream society.

At a psychological level, many of these children whose parents have migrated to GCC countries have to deal with a sense of dread not knowing whether or not their parents will return back home alive.

As Kenya focuses on implementing the labor export policy championed by President William Ruto with an aim of increasing remittances, it is imperative to reflect on the social, emotional and mental impact that parental migration has on those children who are left behind. We must also critically examine how families and communities are affected when their loved ones are returned to them dead or disabled after experiencing years of abuse working in GCC countries. Most essentially, we must reflect on what the future of Kenya holds given that a significant portion of a generation is growing up without their parents.

Kenya should find ways of engaging these workers locally so they can contribute their most productive years toward development of their motherland, and to further enable them to be around their children during their formative years. Developing a more robust and progressive development framework around which agriculture and industry can flourish might just be a starting point.