Royal Tulip Hotel Hurlingham is on the spot for employing four Eritreans and three Indians on low ranking jobs such as storekeepers, juniour cook, procurement officer, front office manager and restaurant manager, jobs that can be done by Kenyans.
How the department of immigration gave work permits to the foreigners to do such jobs still remains a mystery, despite the big number of jobless graduates in the country.
According to the United Nations Human Development, one in five Kenyans between 15 and 34 is unemployed, a much higher rate than any other country in the region.
The foreigners seem to have been left out in a purge that ousted foreigners working illegally in the country.
In August last year, the government announced a crackdown on foreign workers whose working permits had expired or were illegal but were still in the country.
“The launch is part of a process to clean up the register. The number of bona fide foreigners with working permits is far much less compared to the number of those working in the country. Why should we have a foreigner operating a kiosk or barbershop in Kitengela? How many Kenyans are qualified to do those jobs?” Asked Interior spokesperson Mwenda Njoka.
Government records indicate that around 34,000 permits have been issued to foreigners but many others have acquired permits through unscrupulous means.
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“Give me one reason why we need to give a permit to someone coming to be an accountant in Kenya. Why give a permit to a programme officer with the number of graduates who have masters degrees. We are going to tighten the process of work permits. We want to clean this once and for all and have a digital register that can be searched any time on who is supposed to be in Kenya,” said Interior CS Fred Matiang’i.
Kenyans are now calling upon the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) to investigate how the foreigners were allowed to work in the hotel, taking jobs that should be done by Kenyans.
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