Ministry of Labour and Social Protection Cabinet Secretary Alfred Mutua has outlined some of the red flags in overseas jobs.
Speaking during an interview with one of the local TV stations on the night of Saturday, April 12, 2025, Mutua explained how Kenyans seeking jobs abroad can easily differentiate fake offers from legit ones.
He noted that once one receives a job offer, he or she should always try to find out whether the said offer has been attested by the Kenyan embassy or not.
“Usually, before you leave the country, there is a job offer that has to be attested by the Ministry of Labour, so if someone has sent you a job offer, ask them if they can see the demand or the offer that was given to you to recruit us, attested by the Kenyan embassy,” Mutua said.
Mutua on salary offers
Mutua went ahead to explain that Kenyans can also tell a fake job offer if the money being offered is too good to be true, for example, job offers whose pay is too high.
Another red flag mentioned by Mutua is if the recruiting agency downplays the need for a work visa and insists that their travel visa would suffice.
According to Mutua, most fraudulent job offers come from fake agencies that promise a work visa on arrival, only for Kenyans to find themselves with unscrupulous job offers.
“If the money is too good to be true, then it is. Number three, if these people tell you, don’t worry; you don’t need a work visa. We will give you a cover of visa ukifika hapo utabadilisha, then those are fake, because real agencies and the way the government works are that before you leave Kenya, you get a temporary work visa or a full work visa. Not a travel visa. If anyone is giving you a tourism visa, that person wants you to go into slavery. That person is using you,” he explained.
Kenyans rescued
Mutua’s remarks come days after Kenyans who returned from Myanmar after being rescued narrated their ordeal.
Speaking after landing in the country on Saturday, April 5, 2025, the returnees described their lives in the Asian country as hell on earth.
They expressed their horrific experiences under individuals they thought would help them land better jobs in Thailand.
Narrating their encounter, they shared that some had been forced to work in telecom scam centres situated in regions controlled by rebel groups fighting the Myanmar government.
The victims claimed that they were denied salaries and were only allowed to sleep for less than two hours.
They also decried facing continuous harsh punishment.