The Commission on Administrative Justice (Ombudsman) on Monday released its investigative report on the plight of Kenyan domestic workers in Saudi Arabia.

The “Systemic Investigation Report on the Plight of Kenyan Immigrant Domestic Workers in Saudi Arabia” comes amid outcry on mistreatment of Kenyans working in the gulf country.

In its report, the Commission has called for creation of a multi-agency team and Electronic Single Window Integrated System roping in all stakeholders to digitize the enlisting process.

The Ombudsman’s office headed by Florence Kajuju says this will also reduce hurdles in the process to enhance the credibility in recruiting and managing migrant domestic workers.


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In its report, the Commission on Administrative Justice also established that the major forms of abuses experienced by Kenyan migrant domestic workers in Saudi Arabia were:

• Passport Confiscation

• Racism

• Physical Abuse

• Sexual Abuse

• Sleep Deprivation

• Food Deprivation

• Labour Exploitation

• Movement Restriction

• Imprisonment before deportation

• Religious intolerance

• Psychological Abuse

The investigation by the commission also revealed that there are various systemic gaps in the recruitment and management of Kenyan migrant workers.


The gaps noted by the Ombudsman include a weak legal framework, lack of a harmonized database for migrant domestic workers in Saudi Arabia and a compartmentalization process ahead of the presentation of the full report to the National Assembly.