Directors of a fake recruitment agency have been ordered to pay a Kenyan man Sh5 million for trafficking him to a rebel-controlled region in Myanmar where he was forced to work in slave-like conditions.
The Employment and Labour Relations court ruled that Gratify Solutions International Ltd and its directors, led by Virginia Wacheke Muriithi and Ann Njeri Kihara, were liable for trafficking Haron Nyakang’o to Myanmar in December last year.
Mr Nyakang’o and other Kenyans were forced to work without pay until his rescue by the local military in April this year. He was then repatriated to Kenya.
The court said the fine would vindicate Mr Nyakan’go for the suffering and serve as deterrence to the agency from further recruiting Kenyans into servitude.
The court further issued a permanent order barring the agency, which was found to be operating from a cyber café without a licence, from recruiting, transporting, facilitating, or engaging in the export or deployment of Kenyan workers to any foreign country.
“The court finds that by recruiting and transporting the petitioner (Mr Nyakang’o), albeit by his consent, the respondents were jointly and severally liable of trafficking and as well liable for inhuman and degrading treatment and servitude,” said the court.
According to the court, the agency deceived Mr Nyakang’o that he was genuinely getting into employment only to be shipped to Myanmar for exploitation including forced labour, servitude and forced criminality.
It was the court’s finding that the conditions of being held captive and forced into criminal work amounted to forced labour, servitude and likely slavery - all of which constituted violation of rights and freedoms.
Promised Thailand, ended up in Myanmar
Photo credit: Shutterstock
Mr Nyakang’o sued the agency for unlawfully recruiting unsuspecting Kenyan youths by deceitfully promising lucrative employment opportunities in Bangkok.
However, the job seekers would be smuggled to Thailand for non-existent jobs by use of tourist visas, and subsequently smuggled to Myanmar where the victims are handed over to criminal organisations and forcibly exploited in online fraud operations targeting US citizens and those of other countries.
He testified that he had been deceptively recruited, trafficked by road and then by boat via the Moei River to Myanmar, where he was subjected to exploitation and inhumane conditions at the hands of transnational criminal syndicates.
Mr Nyakang’o said he had deferred his studies at Kisii University in November 2024 to travel for work in Bangkok, Thailand, to facilitate paying fees once he resumed school.
During his search for employment, he contacted by Ms Muriithi through Ms Kihara who facilitated and processed his foreign job placement. He said he was promised a customer care job in Bangkok, at a monthly salary of Sh180,000. He paid Sh200,000 to facilitate travel and other costs.
The Employment and Labour Relations court ruled that Gratify Solutions International Ltd and its directors were liable for trafficking Haron Nyakang’o to Myanmar in December last year.
Photo credit: Shutterstock
He left the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport for Bangkok on December 15, 2024. An agent of the company led him and seven other recruited individuals through the clearance process at the airport.
Upon boarding the flight, their team leader took pictures and sent them to a WhatsApp group for monitoring their travel progress.
He was then smuggled to a rebel-controlled scam compound in Myanmar that was heavily guarded and monitored with numerous CCTV cameras and uniformed security guards.
His passport, phones and passwords were confiscated and they were taken to a room resembling a high school dorm, which would be their designated sleeping area.
He and others were then forced to work in an online fraud scheme that created fake profiles to scam people in the US, especially in real estate.
Mr Nyakang’o said when he requested to return to Kenya, the managers of the scam compound demanded $4,500 to facilitate his release, claiming that they had bought him. Since he was unable to make the said payment, he was trapped in servitude and forced labour.
He said he was subjected to severe physical abuse as well as relentless mental and psychological torment, including intimidation, threats and constant fear for his life.
He worked in servitude until he was rescued by the military and returned to Kenya on April 4 this year.
