Central Organisation of Trade Unions now wants all labour export matters to be handled by the Ministry and state to do away with agencies exporting labour.
This according to the union's Secretary General Francis Atwoli will help streamline the sector and prevent cases of mistreatment in the gulf region.
Atwoli blamed the suffering of Kenyan migrant workers in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf on rogue recruitment agencies that disregard the workers after exporting them.
Under the new proposal the Cotu boss wants government Labour attachés in Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries to take charge of the welfare of migrant Kenyan workers in countries under their jurisdiction
He said the union's proposal is that State efforts to find job openings for jobless Kenyans abroad be a government-to-government initiative for their safety.
Government data shows that as at 2022, The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), Qatar and United Arab Emirates (UAE) were key labour destinations for Kenya's semi and unskilled migrant workers.
According to report by the Ministry of Labour, titled Labour migration Senate study visit to the Middle East and policy implications at least 80,000 Kenyan live and work in the Saudi Arabia with majority serving as domestic workers.
"The government comes up with figures of the amount of remittance received from these nations but they don’t tell us if it’s worth the death of some of those workers abroad,” said Atwoli.
He pointed out that countries like Ghana, Nigeria, Philippines and India that have a lot of workers in foreign countries have adopted such a policy.
This, according to Atwoli will further ensure the government has accurate data on the number of Kenyans working abroad besides keeping tabs on their welfare.
National Employment Authority (NEA) data shows that 401 employment agencies are operating in the country without valid licences.
According to the regulator, out of 932 registered employment agencies in the country only 531 have valid licences.
Parliament's previous attempts to address the Middle East worker’s mistreatment have not borne any fruit.
The Senate Labour and Social Welfare Committee blamed employment agencies for taking advantage of Kenya's lack of official agreements or memorandums of understanding with other nations to take exploit desperate unemployed Kenyans.
In November 2021, Atwoli, termed the working conditions in the Middle East as slavery and called for the closure of agencies enlisting Kenyans to work in the Gulf.