Dashing8
19th Nov 2003, 09:26
With the current crackdown, have any expats been told to leave or not had their work permits renewed?
Regional
Monday, November 17, 2003
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Work Permits Crackdown: EPZs Exempt
By JOHN MBARIA
SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
SOME OF the 16,000 expatriates, including 5,000 Westerners, working in Kenya will not get their work permits renewed in the ongoing crackdown on foreigners holding non-essential jobs, the Minister for Labour and Manpower Development, Ali Mwakwere, told The EastAfrican last week.
Although Mr Mwakwere said the government would not impose a blanket ban on the employment of expatriates, sources told The EastAfrican that the government had already declined to renew work permits of 1,321 expatriates.
Mr Mwakwere repeated his remarks last Thursday, when he appeared on Nation TV's News Hour talkshow, saying that the government was about meet its target of creating 500,000 jobs per year. This was one of the ruling NARC government's election campaign pledges, which it has been under pressure to fulfil since it came to power in January.
The minister said that by September 410,000 jobs had been created – over 300,000 in the jua kali (informal) sector, 87,000 in the industrial sector and over 11,000 in the public sector. This was despite the fact that the tourism sector, one of the major employers in the country, was experiencing a downturn as result of reduced arrivals of tourists, he added.
However, Mr Mwakwere said aliens, some with dubious qualifications, had taken up jobs for which many Kenyans with middle-level training qualified.
The government's move to limit the number of expatriates seeking employment in Kenya has raised the hopes for thousands of Kenyans who were retrenched as a result of the economic squeeze the country has been going through since the World Bank and IMF cut back funding for development projects over 10 years ago.
The minister, however, said the phasing out of aliens would be gradual to avoid confusion or disruption where the workers had been legally employed.
This is a position that his deputy, Peter Odoyo, echoed during a interview with the international press, which prompted President Mwai Kibaki to reassure British investors that the government would not expel expatriates who were in the country legally.
He told British Under-Secretary of State in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office Chris Mullin, who was in Nairobi recently, that expatriates working in the country illegally would be dealt with according to the law.
Days after the president's statement, Mr Mwakwere was at it again, saying that it was "totally unfair for investors to bring in middle and low-level personnel in the industrial sectors from other countries while we expect our workers to also acquire modern knowledge."
The minister singled out "rockets" or workers of Indian origin who have illegally acquired work-permits but cannot venture out of their work stations for fear of being arrested. These workers reside at their places of work and come out only in the evening for shopping. The minister did not give the number of "rockets" in the country. However, he said most of them possess skills that are available in the country.
Mr Mwakwere's remarks did not go down well with the foreign media represented in Nairobi. A section of the foreign media recently described him as "the modern Idi Amin of East Africa," in reference to the late Ugandan leader's expulsion of Asians working and doing business in Uganda in early 1970s.
The international media have in turn been criticised by the Kenya Union of Journalists, which has in the past questioned the credentials of some of the correspondents based in Nairobi.
It is not just journalists who have grumbled about "job snatching" by foreigners, pilots and teachers are also on record complaining of losing jobs to aliens.
Should the minister make good his stated intentions, Kenya will be moving in the direction Tanzania took in 2000 when it enforced a law forbidding aliens from competing for jobs locals qualified for. Before a foreign investor is allowed to hire expatriates, he is required to advertise the positions and justify why he needs foreigners if local labour is available.
The "modern Idi Amin" tag angered Mr Mwakwere who, while speaking at an International Labour Organisation workshop for judges in Nairobi, said, "There could be no more unfair reference than that. I feel extremely insulted and I hope they have the courtesy to apologise."
Edith Okoki, a senior employment officer in the Ministry of Labour, told The EastAfrican last week: "The exercise [of reducing expatriate workers] will continue until the government is satisfied that Kenyans have gained the skills and experience necessary to replace them."
Although Ms Okoki declined to give details of the nationalities of the expatriates whose work permits have been cancelled, it is understood that most of them are from Britain, India, the US and China, "who have the largest number of nationals working in Kenya."
Asked which sectors have been, and will be affected by the exercise, Ms Okoki said: "There is no sector that will not be affected if there is sufficient evidence that there are Kenyans with appropriate qualification, skills and experience to take over positions occupied by expatriates."
She said most expatriates work in the tourism, business, manufacturing and construction industries.
The EastAfrican has, however, established that export processing zones (EPZs) will not be affected by the new directive.
"The government will not interfere with the arrangements in the export processing zones," said Mr Mwakwere, adding that the law allows investors in EPZs to import certain categories of personnel in management and technical departments.
Apparently, the government gives EPZs special consideration owing to what Ms Okoki called the industry's "infancy" stage.
"As a new type of investment introduced into the Kenyan economy, it is important that export processing zones be assisted by allowing investors to recruit persons with the right skills to enable the project to take off the ground," added Ms Okoki.
The government will also spare expatriates employed in firms which have invested in relatively new technologies such as mobile telephony.
"Here, the government is allowing the employment of a foreigner who has the approved skills to train Kenyans," said Ms Okoki, adding that such a foreigner "will be replaced once Kenyans have matured to take up the positions."
Mr Mwakwere attributed the influx of illegal aliens into the country to laxity in the Immigration Department caused by bad governance in the past. The renewal of the permits would delay Kenya's target of industrialisation by 2025, he added.
The move to kick out aliens working in the country is the first since the 1980s, when the government ordered Ugandan nationals out of the country. They were blamed for rising insecurity, although political observers said the move was prompted by political disagreements between President Yoweri Museveni and former president Daniel arap Moi.
At the height of civil strife in Uganda in the 1970s and early 1980s, many professionals sought refuge in Kenya, where they were hired as teachers, doctors and nurses.
Regional
Monday, November 17, 2003
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Work Permits Crackdown: EPZs Exempt
By JOHN MBARIA
SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
SOME OF the 16,000 expatriates, including 5,000 Westerners, working in Kenya will not get their work permits renewed in the ongoing crackdown on foreigners holding non-essential jobs, the Minister for Labour and Manpower Development, Ali Mwakwere, told The EastAfrican last week.
Although Mr Mwakwere said the government would not impose a blanket ban on the employment of expatriates, sources told The EastAfrican that the government had already declined to renew work permits of 1,321 expatriates.
Mr Mwakwere repeated his remarks last Thursday, when he appeared on Nation TV's News Hour talkshow, saying that the government was about meet its target of creating 500,000 jobs per year. This was one of the ruling NARC government's election campaign pledges, which it has been under pressure to fulfil since it came to power in January.
The minister said that by September 410,000 jobs had been created – over 300,000 in the jua kali (informal) sector, 87,000 in the industrial sector and over 11,000 in the public sector. This was despite the fact that the tourism sector, one of the major employers in the country, was experiencing a downturn as result of reduced arrivals of tourists, he added.
However, Mr Mwakwere said aliens, some with dubious qualifications, had taken up jobs for which many Kenyans with middle-level training qualified.
The government's move to limit the number of expatriates seeking employment in Kenya has raised the hopes for thousands of Kenyans who were retrenched as a result of the economic squeeze the country has been going through since the World Bank and IMF cut back funding for development projects over 10 years ago.
The minister, however, said the phasing out of aliens would be gradual to avoid confusion or disruption where the workers had been legally employed.
This is a position that his deputy, Peter Odoyo, echoed during a interview with the international press, which prompted President Mwai Kibaki to reassure British investors that the government would not expel expatriates who were in the country legally.
He told British Under-Secretary of State in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office Chris Mullin, who was in Nairobi recently, that expatriates working in the country illegally would be dealt with according to the law.
Days after the president's statement, Mr Mwakwere was at it again, saying that it was "totally unfair for investors to bring in middle and low-level personnel in the industrial sectors from other countries while we expect our workers to also acquire modern knowledge."
The minister singled out "rockets" or workers of Indian origin who have illegally acquired work-permits but cannot venture out of their work stations for fear of being arrested. These workers reside at their places of work and come out only in the evening for shopping. The minister did not give the number of "rockets" in the country. However, he said most of them possess skills that are available in the country.
Mr Mwakwere's remarks did not go down well with the foreign media represented in Nairobi. A section of the foreign media recently described him as "the modern Idi Amin of East Africa," in reference to the late Ugandan leader's expulsion of Asians working and doing business in Uganda in early 1970s.
The international media have in turn been criticised by the Kenya Union of Journalists, which has in the past questioned the credentials of some of the correspondents based in Nairobi.
It is not just journalists who have grumbled about "job snatching" by foreigners, pilots and teachers are also on record complaining of losing jobs to aliens.
Should the minister make good his stated intentions, Kenya will be moving in the direction Tanzania took in 2000 when it enforced a law forbidding aliens from competing for jobs locals qualified for. Before a foreign investor is allowed to hire expatriates, he is required to advertise the positions and justify why he needs foreigners if local labour is available.
The "modern Idi Amin" tag angered Mr Mwakwere who, while speaking at an International Labour Organisation workshop for judges in Nairobi, said, "There could be no more unfair reference than that. I feel extremely insulted and I hope they have the courtesy to apologise."
Edith Okoki, a senior employment officer in the Ministry of Labour, told The EastAfrican last week: "The exercise [of reducing expatriate workers] will continue until the government is satisfied that Kenyans have gained the skills and experience necessary to replace them."
Although Ms Okoki declined to give details of the nationalities of the expatriates whose work permits have been cancelled, it is understood that most of them are from Britain, India, the US and China, "who have the largest number of nationals working in Kenya."
Asked which sectors have been, and will be affected by the exercise, Ms Okoki said: "There is no sector that will not be affected if there is sufficient evidence that there are Kenyans with appropriate qualification, skills and experience to take over positions occupied by expatriates."
She said most expatriates work in the tourism, business, manufacturing and construction industries.
The EastAfrican has, however, established that export processing zones (EPZs) will not be affected by the new directive.
"The government will not interfere with the arrangements in the export processing zones," said Mr Mwakwere, adding that the law allows investors in EPZs to import certain categories of personnel in management and technical departments.
Apparently, the government gives EPZs special consideration owing to what Ms Okoki called the industry's "infancy" stage.
"As a new type of investment introduced into the Kenyan economy, it is important that export processing zones be assisted by allowing investors to recruit persons with the right skills to enable the project to take off the ground," added Ms Okoki.
The government will also spare expatriates employed in firms which have invested in relatively new technologies such as mobile telephony.
"Here, the government is allowing the employment of a foreigner who has the approved skills to train Kenyans," said Ms Okoki, adding that such a foreigner "will be replaced once Kenyans have matured to take up the positions."
Mr Mwakwere attributed the influx of illegal aliens into the country to laxity in the Immigration Department caused by bad governance in the past. The renewal of the permits would delay Kenya's target of industrialisation by 2025, he added.
The move to kick out aliens working in the country is the first since the 1980s, when the government ordered Ugandan nationals out of the country. They were blamed for rising insecurity, although political observers said the move was prompted by political disagreements between President Yoweri Museveni and former president Daniel arap Moi.
At the height of civil strife in Uganda in the 1970s and early 1980s, many professionals sought refuge in Kenya, where they were hired as teachers, doctors and nurses.