Kajwang was on the spot over the issuance of 26 000 work permits to foreigners
Immigration minister Otieno Kajwang was on Wednesday taken to task by parliament over the issuance of work permits to foreigners.
Kajwang is being accused of overlooking Kenyans and allowing foreigners who have no skills to take up jobs that can be performed by locals.
Kajwang has however defended his ministry saying he was merely facilitating investors and those granted work permits were duly vetted by various arms of the government and the issuance carried out under the immigration act and international agreements.
The minister was put on the spot over the issuance of 26-thousand work permits to foreigners.
Of major concern was the granting of 10-thousand such permits to Indians to work in the country in low cadre jobs including as shop attendants. Parliamentarians claimed the immigration department was riddled with cartels who are cashing in on the issuance of permits.
MPs wondered why Indians who have no skills were being granted authority to work in the country yet Kenyans can be sourced for the same jobs.
But Kajwang defended his actions saying all those granted work permits were duly vetted by various government agents.
He said in other instances, some of the so called lesser jobs cannot be done by Kenyans saying even in his Mbita constituency he found it hard to employ an earthmover operator since no one had the expertise to operate the machines.
He said Kenyans were also working elsewhere in the world and have interests in several countries hence Kenya cannot shut its doors to those who want to come and invest here since they too create thousands of jobs for the locals.
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