Foreigners risk losing jobs as Kenya enforces tough work permit law

Kenya's NGO Coordination Board Executive Director Fazul Mohamed. The government has directed the board to ensure that expatriates are given work permits only when no persons with comparable skills are available in the country. FILE PHOTO | NATION MEDIA GROUP 

By PETER LEFTIE and BBC

In Summary

• In a statement, the Ministry of Devolution announced that it will henceforth only issue work permits to expatriates in instances where Kenyans lack the requisite skills and qualifications to undertake such jobs.
• The government further criticised NGOs over the large disparity between what foreigners and Kenyans earn.
• The government feels the new restrictions are needed to safeguard the interests of Kenyans and has directed the Board and heads of NGOs to ensure strict compliance with the law on work permits.

The government feels the new restrictions are needed to safeguard the interests of Kenyans and has directed the Board and heads of NGOs to ensure strict compliance with the law on work permits.

Kenya follows in the footsteps of neighbouring Tanzania which in January this year introduced tough immigration laws in a move aimed at freeing up jobs for its citizens.

The Dar government launched a massive crackdown on foreign nationals who did not have both work and residence permits, with the Immigration department saying that only 680 foreigners possessed valid work permits at the time while only 66 had applied for residence permits.

Tanzania's move triggered outrage in Kenya amid complaints that many Kenyans, especially private school teachers, had been deported after authorities failed to renew their permits.

READ: Foreign teachers leave Tanzania

In Kenya, the NGO sector is estimated to employ 80,000 people. The country is a regional hub for NGOs, with aid agencies working in countries from Democratic Republic of Congo to South Sudan based in Kenya