Selestine Kemoli sought refuge at the Kenyan Embassy in Riyadh in 2020 after fleeing what she described as horrific abuse while working as a domestic worker in Saudi Arabia. According to her account, her employer slashed her with a paring knife, forced her to drink urine, and raped her. Desperate, alone, and without money, she turned to her country’s diplomatic mission for help in returning home to her two children.
Instead of the support she needed, Kemoli says she encountered further exploitation. The labor attaché at the time, Robinson Juma Twanga, allegedly told her: “You are beautiful,” and added, “I will sleep with you, just the same way your boss has slept with you.”
Kemoli’s story is one of many. Several Kenyan women interviewed by The New York Times said that when they fled abuse in Saudi Arabia, Twanga either demanded sex or money, or forced them into sex work in exchange for assistance. The women lived in separate regions of Kenya and did not know each other, yet their testimonies showed a consistent pattern.
Faith Gathuo, another survivor, said she sought help from the embassy in 2014 after being beaten and raped. Instead of assistance, she was allegedly met with similar abuse. “They didn’t care for us,” she told The New York Times. She claims another embassy official demanded money and anal sex.
Even after the gravity of these accounts, Kenyan government officials have denied any prior knowledge of such complaints. A spokesperson for President William Ruto, responding on behalf of the Foreign Ministry, said there had been no reports of mistreatment by embassy staff.
Twanga, when contacted by phone, responded, “I cannot get involved in that kind of story.” He also stated that he is now retired.
Each year, tens of thousands of Kenyans — mostly women — travel to Saudi Arabia seeking higher wages. Many face abuse, unpaid labor, or detention in a country where East African domestic workers lack legal protections.
A recent investigation has also shown that powerful individuals in both East Africa and Saudi Arabia profit from this labor system, deepening the vulnerabilities of these migrant workers.
(This article is based on original reporting by The New York Times and published by Deccan Herald. Full credit to the original source.)
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