A total of 93 Kenyans have died in Saudi Arabia, Labor PS Peter Tum has said.
Tum, in a report, said the deaths resulted from different ailments, the most prominent being Covid-19 followed by cardiac arrest, cancer, childbirth, respiratory complications, tuberculosis, and meningitis.
Other minor causes, according to the PS, were caused by accidents.
He spoke on Tuesday before the National Assembly’s Labour and Social Welfare Committee chaired by Mwea MP Wachira Kabinga.
“Since January 2019, the ministry has received reports of 93 deaths of migrant workers in the Gulf region,” the PS said.
But, nominated MP Godfrey Osotsi said the Labor Ministry is not giving the correct numbers. He said that there are 20 cases of workers in Saudi who are dead.
He said the ministry should give proper details of the people who lost their love in Saudi.
There have been increased cases of death for Kenyans working in Saudi for the past few months.
In June, Patricia Wanja, a 28-year-old mother of two, returned to the country in what she describes as a miraculous return.
“I’m the product of the efforts of so many people, and that’s why I don’t take it for granted. That’s why I am so happy now,” she said on her first day back home.
Wanja took to social media in May with a recorded video detailing her suffering in Saudi, saying it is time to go back home but need the government’s help to do this.
She narrated that she was terrified to death after bumping into a pistol on the coffee table as she cleaned the house.
This added to her fears after undergoing a series of inhuman treatment at the hands of her Saudi employer weeks after starting her work.
“I was just so terrified. I held it with the rug I was cleaning with and I felt it was light. I just left it,” she narrates in the video.
She further accused her agent, Mahara Human Resources Company of duping her. She is supposed to get a Ksh30,000 salary but only gets Ksh25, 983.
Wanja says the fear of being imprisoned made her not air her grievances and worked like nothing was wrong.
In the short video, she complained that her boss physically abused her and failed to give her medical attention when she was sick.
This was against the terms of her contract, which clearly stated that she should get medical attention in the event she falls ill.
