A group of young men who went to Malaysia to look for greener pastures are crying for help, saying their employer threw them out without pay.
The five; Charles Macharia, Geoffrey Maina, David Kevin Ochola, Dickson Otieno and Sospeter Ngahu say they have been sleeping on staircases of an abandoned warehouse in Johor Bahru, a five-hour drive from the capital Kuala Lumpur.
In an exclusive interview with Citizen Digital, the gentlemen narrated how they were taken to Malaysia through a Kenyan agent only identified as David in April 2023, with the promise of better job opportunities.
Upon touchdown, they were handed over to a Malaysian agent identified as Annand, who took them to a shipping company in Johor Bahru.
At the company, the five were employed as casual labourers where they diligently carried out duties assigned to them.
But on payday, they did not receive their salaries. The second month went by and still they were not paid. Stuck, they enquired about their salaries, only to be told by the company that they were paid through Annand.
They worked for four months without pay, only surviving on some petty cash sent to them by their families when they narrated their ordeal.
“We’ve been sleeping on these cartons since we don’t have anything. We are stuck here and even the company terminated our employment and gave us a notice to vacate this warehouse by September 1. But we have nowhere to go,” Ngahu told Citizen Digital via video call.
When they contacted the Malaysian agent (Annand) for their money and well-being, he rudely said that he had bought them for 5,000 Ringgit each (Malaysian currency), which translates to Ksh156k each.
“We feel we were sold here as slaves because Annand said he had bought us and that is why we are not being paid. This is modern-day slavery,” Ngahu added.
Their living conditions are so deplorable that they don’t have even basic bedding like blankets and pillows. They use their clothes to keep themselves up at night.
In one corner of the staircases, a dirty sufuria which they use to cook rice is seen on the floor. Also there are plastic plates from which they eat.
“We mostly survive on rice, because it is the cheapest thing around here. Our families take turns to send us little money to buy the rice,” Macharia told Citizen Digital.
The five men have made all efforts to get the necessary help to get back to the country. So far, they have accumulated fines which they have to pay to the Malaysian government before they leave. These are fines for overstaying and each one of them needs Ksh35,000 as fine.
The flight back to Nairobi from Kuala Lumpur will cost each one of them Ksh70,000. this means with Ksh105,000 each one of them will be able to fly back to Kenya and start afresh.
“Our families don’t have that kind of money, that is why we are stuck here. Each day they are accumulating debts and that means even when we get back home we are going to start from zero,” Ngahu added.
Efforts to get support from the Kenyan embassy in Malaysia have not yielded fruits either. The embassy says it can only help them if they raise the money for the fines and the air tickets to Nairobi.
Ngahu says they have written emails to the United Nations saying they have been subjected to modern day slavery and all the need is rescuing, but UN is yet to respond to their cry.
Citizen Digital also contacted David, the agent who took them to Malaysia, but he declined to comment saying the matter is in court.
However, the five men say they have tried to reach out to David but he is no longer picking up their calls. They say he is very active on social media while they are suffering in Malaysia.
The five have called for the Kenyan government to intervene to help them return home to their families.
“All we are asking for is help to go back home. We came here to help ourselves and our families but we realised we were duped. The Kenyan and Malaysian agents know what they are doing. Please help us go back home,” they beg.
