In conjunction with the lack of employment in European countries, due to the exit of citizens from working age, some African countries are working to send their citizens abroad in order to obtain permanent jobs, considering this part of the core of their development policies aimed at diversifying income and eliminating unemployment.
In the state of Kenya, which has witnessed in recent years widespread turmoil among young people due to unemployment and the high cost of living, the government is working to facilitate immigration to hundreds of thousands of citizens towards European countries that suffer from aging and the exit of citizens from working age, as it launched in November 2024 an exhibition of operation 47 provinces from the country, with the aim of discovering experienced and skillful.
The recruitment campaign launched by the Kenyan work services witnessed a wide turnout by the unemployed, as citizens began lining up under rain from 4 am to conduct interviews.
During the employment exhibition, Labor Minister Alfred Moto said that his country has the human capital that can be exploited, and earned a lot of money by exporting it.
Germany and Kenya have signed an agreement to facilitate the procedures related to the Kenyans who are chosen to obtain jobs in Germany.
The German ambassador to Kenya said that his country needs employment and suffers from a severe shortage of many professions, and the deficit is estimated at 400 thousand workers annually, and added that many restaurants and cafes close their doors at the end of the week due to the lack of chefs and perennia.
In 2023-2024, the government in Kenya facilitated the migration of 200 thousand workers, while it is working to send 700,000 others before the end of the current fiscal year, with about a million citizens to send over the next 3 years to work outside the country.
There are no accurate data and numbers in Africa about “the displacement of citizens for employment”, as this policy was not known on the continent unlike the Asia region.
At the end of 2024, the Tanzania government said it intends to sign agreements with 8 countries to employ and send employment.
With the lack of job opportunities and the spread of unemployment, the African continent faces a huge demographic growth that would exacerbate employment problems.
Mutual interests
Analysts say that African countries see immigration as a way to address unemployment that often lead to social unrest and tax demonstrations such as what happened in Kenya last year.
On the other hand, Michael Clemence, an expert on immigration economy from George Mason University in the United States, believes that the richer countries believe that official work agreements may be a better option than irregular migrant flows.
Although European countries are working to reduce the flows of migrants and consider them a demographic and cultural danger, political leaders realize the great deficit at the level of employment in their countries.
Recently, the Italian government, led by Prime Minister Georgia Miloni, has increased the number of work visas issued to citizens outside the European Union circle, despite its campaign aimed at reducing the flow of migrants.
According to official figures and statistics, the German immigration services increased in the number of visas for foreign workers by 15%, in the period between October 2023 and September 2024.
Campaign risks
The opponents of the “Displacement for Jobs” campaign, which the Kenyan government, says that the authorities have failed to find job opportunities and that the Minister of Labor Alfred Moto promotes the slave trade because of his support for the migration of the Kenyans, who spoke of reports that they were subjected to ill -treatment in the Middle East.
A number of observers in Kenya have expressed his fear of the country’s loss of those with competencies that he needs in the sustainability of the construction and development process.
However, the Minister of Employment believes that the formalization of immigration is a protection for citizens from exploitation and abuse by the fraudsters.
He also says that it is normal to send employees and health workers to external countries because the government does not have enough means to employ them.
Dennis Meskilla, Deputy Secretary -General of the Medical, Pharmacists and Dentists in Kenya, believes that if health workers are heading abroad and are accepted in foreign hospitals, they may only return from them.
