150 Kenyan drivers going to Saudi to undergo drug testing, learn financial literacy skills

About 150 drivers recruited to work for a Saudi Arabia bus company will be subjected to thorough tests before their departure, a recruitment agency has said.

Mary Mwema, the CEO of Monisa Company that is recruiting the drivers said apart from the mandatory Gamca medical examination for those who want to go to the Gulf (Saudi Arabia, Oman, Bahrain, Kuwait, and Qatar) to work, the drivers will also undergo body and drug tests.

The drivers are going to serve a two-year contract and are part of recruitment that commenced in 2019 that saw 50 engineers - electrical and mechanical - recruited. Cleaners were also hired.

“The contracts for the engineers and cleaners have ended and they are currently in the country but they have expressed willingness to return to Saudi Arabia again,” said Mwema.

Mwema said the contracts signed by the drivers are in line with the Bilateral Labour Agreements signed between Kenya and Saudi Arabia in 2019.

She said the drivers would be trained in financial literacy to enable them to utilise their earnings responsibly. They would also undergo life skills training on how to interact with their clients in their new destination, she said.

• .

  Keep Reading

• 
  Family struggles to repatriate kin's body from Saudi Arabia
• 
  How Gen Z protesters were abducted, extorted by armed hooded men
• 
  State to deploy labour emissaries in the Gulf to safeguard Kenyans

She said they would go through a six-week on-the-job training on their arrival in Saudi Arabia.

She said the 150 recruits would be required to produce certificates of good conduct to eliminate the possibility of recruiting those with criminal records.

Salim, one of the shortlisted drivers, said he was impressed by the way the interview process was conducted.

“I am happy that we are being subjected to drug tests because the work we are going to do requires the highest standards of safety and this can be compromised by drug abuse,” he said.