Kenya must stop trading dignity for dollars and reclaim our workforce. Because we have failed to create jobs at home, Kenyans continue to face abuse abroad – unprotected by a state too weak, too distracted, or too apathetic to act. Every month, grim news filters back: a domestic worker assaulted, a construction labourer underpaid, a young woman denied her freedom, a man returning home in a coffin bought by well-wishers. These are not accidents of fate; they are symptoms of a systemic national failure. A country that cannot provide meaningful work for its citizens inevitably exports desperation. And desperation, when shipped across borders, rarely returns with dignity.
It is painful to admit, but the truth is unavoidable: Kenya has normalised outsourcing hope. We have turned labour migration into a national safety valve – not because it is strategic, but because it is convenient. Instead of confronting unemployment, restructuring the economy or holding corrupt intermediaries accountable, we keep encouraging Kenyans to seek fortunes elsewhere, regardless of the risks. Government agencies celebrate remittances as if they are medals of honour, forgetting that behind every dollar lies a person who left home because Kenya had no place for them. Remittances have become the plaster that hides the wound. But the wound is deepening.
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For years, we have comforted ourselves with the illusion that foreign labour markets are a humanitarian gift to Kenyans. But what kind of gift exposes Kenyans to violent employers, confiscated passports, exploitative agencies, and governments that treat foreign workers as disposable? Many migrant workers leave with hope but return with trauma – both physical and psychological. Their stories rarely make headlines; their pain rarely shakes policymakers. Yet these are the sons and daughters of this republic, and the state owes them protection. A nation that ignores its workers abroad is a nation that has lost its moral compass at home.
The weakness of our labour diplomacy is not just embarrassing; it is dangerous. Countries that rely heavily on migrant labour negotiate aggressively for safe conditions, fair wages, legal protections and bilateral agreements that guarantee dignity. Kenya, in contrast, often arrives at the negotiation table apologetically – desperate to keep labour export corridors open, yet reluctant to confront abuses head-on. When a Kenyan maid dies under suspicious circumstances, official statements speak in generalities and caution. When groups protest treatment in foreign compounds, our embassies respond slowly or inadequately. When unscrupulous recruitment agencies prey on hopeful youth, the regulatory system limps along behind them. A state that does not defend its citizens will eventually lose their loyalty.
And yet, the heart of the issue is not abroad—it is here. No country should depend on exporting labour as a long-term national strategy. The measure of a dignified nation is not how many workers it sends out, but how many it can sustain, uplift and protect within its borders. Kenya must confront its own economic shortcomings with honesty. We have under-invested in local industries, tolerated corruption that kills enterprise, allowed vocational and technical training to decline, and ignored the potential of rural economies. We celebrate entrepreneurship but fail to create the environment where enterprises can grow beyond survival mode. If jobs existed here—real jobs with real wages—far fewer Kenyans would gamble with their lives in foreign households or construction sites.
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Reclaiming our workforce begins with political courage. The government must resist the temptation to treat remittances as a substitute for economic planning. Kenya needs a deliberate, long-term strategy that prioritises job creation, industrialisation and youth employment. This means revitalising manufacturing, modernising agriculture, unlocking the digital economy, strengthening labour unions and cutting the bureaucratic red tape that suffocates new businesses. It means investing in skills that match global labour trends, but ensuring those skills feed our own economy first. Above all, it means refusing to sacrifice citizens’ dignity for foreign currency.
But economic reform alone is insufficient. We must also rebuild the systems meant to protect Kenyans abroad. Every recruitment agency must be vetted rigorously, monitored relentlessly, and punished decisively when they exploit workers. Bilateral labour agreements must be renegotiated with human rights at the centre – not as afterthoughts. Embassies and consulates must be staffed with labour attachés who understand their role is not ceremonial but life-saving. And when abuses occur, Kenya must react with urgency and force, showing that every Kenyan, no matter where they work, belongs to a nation that will defend them without hesitation.
Finally, the conversation about dignity cannot ignore our collective responsibility as a society. We cannot continue to glorify migration while ignoring its cost. We cannot celebrate foreign jobs while refusing to question why our own country pushes young graduates, mothers, fathers and even teenagers to distant lands. We cannot judge migrant workers for leaving when we have done so little to give them reasons to stay. Dignity begins with acknowledging value – value of labour, value of life, value of belonging. A country that values its people does not turn them into bargaining chips in global labour markets.
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Kenya stands at a crossroads. One road leads deeper into dependency on labour export – more remittances, more heartbreak, more coffins arriving at JKIA. The other road demands hard work: rebuilding industries, investing in youth, strengthening protections and redefining what national pride means in a globalised world. The choice is not abstract; it is urgent. Every Kenyan working under unsafe conditions abroad is a reminder that we have delayed this decision for too long.
We must reclaim our workforce – not by recalling them home, but by building a Kenya they do not have to flee. A Kenya where opportunity is created, not outsourced. A Kenya where dignity is not traded for dollars but safeguarded as a national treasure. A Kenya strong enough to protect its people, and bold enough to demand respect for them everywhere in the world. Only then will we stop the bleeding of our dignity. Only then will Kenya stand tall – not as a nation exporting desperation, but as one cultivating hope within its own borders.
By Ashford Kimani
Ashford teaches English and Literature in Gatundu North Sub-county and serves as Dean of Studies.
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