By B, KNA
The Government of Kenya today engaged in high level discussions with the Provincial Government of the New Brunswick, Canada to explore mechanisms of how the two governments can cooperate on labour mobility.
During the high-level meeting, on labour mobility held between the Government of Kenya and the Provincial Government of New Brunswick at NSSF House on Monday the Kenyan Government representatives, led Principal Secretary for Labour and Skills Development, Mr Shadrack Mwadime, thanked the Canadian government for opening job opportunities for Kenyans professionals to work in sectors in Canada.
The team from New Brunswick led by Daniel Mills, the Deputy Minister for Post-Secondary Education, Training and Labour was accompanied by Dany Couillard, Assistant Deputy Minister for Immigration.
They are in the country to visit educational institutions, medical training colleges, polytechnics, universities and TVETS to learn and appreciate the courses, how the training is done, as well as know who sets the standards, qualifications and certification.
“We are happy that the Canadian government has come to appreciate the quality of labour force in our country,” said Mwadime.
The PS said the Canadian government needs skilled professionals in sectors such as health, the construction industry as well as electric and energy among others.
He added that Kenya looks forward to signing a Memorandum of Understanding with New Brunswick government in a structured and organized way after deliberating on key issues on labour mobility.
With regard to recruitment for jobs offered abroad, the PS said the government has streamlined the recruitment agencies operating with Kenya declaring that Kenyans applying for international jobs should do so through the National Industrial Training Authority (NITA) portal.
“NITA portals are genuine and can easily be accessed through the Integrated management system,” said the PS while cautioning Kenyans against falling prey to advertisements being carried on social media and print media by dubious agencies.
Mwadime said for the last two years the government has managed to reduce the number of recruiting agencies by 50 percent weeding out dubious agencies that have been conning Kenyans of their hard-earned money.
“There has been a lot of complains where a number of Kenyans have been conned, this is a thorn in the flesh as it has caused us a lot of distress. We will use Kenyan embassies to verify the international jobs,” said the PS
He said tourists’ visas cannot be used to access international jobs and advised those interested to work abroad to look for work permits.
In his remarks, Mills said the purpose of their visit is to explore opportunities and to partner with Kenya around labour mobility, noting that there is need for labour in Canada because it has an aged population whose average age is 45 while Kenya’s average age is below 35.
“This is why we want to talk to Kenya about future partnerships with,” he added.
He at the same time announced that the New Brunswick project is only targeting a total of 860,000 for labour mobility, noting that since Kenya trains about one million youths to join the workforce annually, Canada will play an important role in absorbing some.
The meeting was also attended by Principal Secretaries Dr. Ouma Oluga (Medical Services), Mary Muriuki (Public Health and Professional Standards), Dr. Esther Muoria (Technical, Vocational Education and Training) and Kilifi South Member of Parliament, Ken Chonga who is the Chair, Departmental Committee on Labour.