How Kenyans are sold into slavery

Thousands of Kenyans are being driven into modern slavery abroad in their desperate attempts to escape from worsening economic conditions at home.

Nation investigations show that nearly 20,000 Kenyans fall prey to human trafficking cartels yearly and are living in appalling conditions in North America, Europe and the Middle East.

The case of a 14-year-old girl rescued in the United Kingdom is a stark reminder of the growing trade in humans.

She had been moved to Liverpool by a man who locked her in a house and forced her to have sex with numerous people. Luckily she escaped and she is now under the care of a charity in the UK.

Her plight came to light on July 8, when UK Conservative Party MP Peter Bone of Wellingborough told Westminster Hall.

“(She) was a black girl from Kenya. She came in on a passport that did not have her name or photograph on it, but was allowed into the country.”

Apart from the revelation by Mr Bone, little information is available about the girl. The Kenyan High Commission was not forthcoming when this writer used a London contact to seek more information about the girl.

Yet what emerges from this case is that Kenya has become a key operation base for cartels that are turning 17,500 Kenyans (according to estimates by Randy Fleitman, until recently the US Labour Attache, in Nairobi) into bondage abroad — about one in 40 people trafficked worldwide.

The cartels have also been bringing into Kenya Ugandans, Tanzanians, Indians, Chinese, Pakistani, Bangladeshis and Congolese, who are forced to work in construction industry and the EPZ factories, and as prostitutes in brothels in Nairobi.

After rescuing two Kenyan children in Tanzania last year, police believe another 40 minors and six adults are living there as slaves.

Police sources say investigations have also moved to The Netherlands and Ireland where five children are believed to be living in similar circumstances.

Bought or stolen

And the African Network for the Prevention and Protection Against Child Abuse (Anppcan), Kenya Chapter, is pursuing investigations on reports that children bought or stolen in Kenya are held in Busia Town homes veiled as schools before they are ferried to Burundi, southern Africa and Europe.

It has emerged also that some of these children are being trafficked “for purposes such as removal of organs, religious rituals or witchcraft’’, according to Child Rights Advisory Documentation and Legal Centre (Cradle — The Children’s Foundation) in its 90-page report, “Grand Illusions, Shattered Dreams” published three months ago.

“Kenya is a source, transit and destination for trafficked children,” says Mr Ahmed Hussein, director of children’s services, Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Development.