Landmark petition reveals Kenyan jobseekers tricked into slavery trap overseas

A male traveler wearing a facemask at the airport and looking at the flight schedule. [Courtesy/GettyImages]

Persons returning to Kenya continue to expose rogue recruitment agents preying on jobseekers seeking employment abroad, particularly in the Gulf and Asia, lifting the lid on a deepening crisis that is leaving young Kenyans vulnerable to modern-day slavery, deception, and abuse.

In a recent case filed before the Employment and Labour Relations Court in Nairobi, the magnitude of exploitation has been laid bare.

The petition, filed by Duncan Okindo—a Kenyan returnee trafficked to Myanmar—details a chilling operation allegedly run by a local recruitment agency, Gratify Solutions International Ltd, which promised lucrative jobs but instead delivered victims into the hands of international trafficking syndicates.

Okindo, represented by Manasseh & Company Advocates, alleges that Gratify Solutions International Ltd and its top officials—Virginia Wacheke Muriithi, Boniface Owino, and Ann Njeri Kihara—trafficked him under false pretences and subjected him to forced labour and criminal exploitation.

In court filings, Okindo states that the agency and its officials orchestrated and facilitated his trafficking to Myanmar against his will.

“The Petitioner is one of a multitude of victims of the Respondents’ illegal activities, having been deceptively recruited, smuggled, and trafficked by the Respondents to Myanmar,” the court papers read in part.

The lawsuit reveals that trafficked individuals are subjected to forced labour, slavery, mandatory medical tests, and isolation, while being forced to perform criminal acts that could expose them to prosecution abroad.

Okindo says he was trafficked from Kenya on the false promise of a customer service role in Bangkok, Thailand, only to be smuggled by boat across the Moei River in Mae Sot into Myanmar.

“I thought I was going to work in a call centre in Bangkok,” Okindo told the court in his affidavit.

Okindo claims the agents use tourist visas to circumvent immigration checks, ferrying young Kenyans to Thailand under the guise of leisure travel. 

He has urged the court to intervene and halt the agency’s operations, citing continued unlawful recruitment of Kenyans for non-existent jobs in Bangkok, and subsequent smuggling using tourist visas.

On Wednesday, June 4 2025, Justice Hellen Wasilwa of the Employment and Labour Relations Court issued interim conservatory orders restraining the agency and its officials from engaging in any labour export activities, pending the determination of the case filed by Okindo, who was recently rescued from Myanmar.

 “Pending the hearing and determination of the Application and Petition, this Honourable Court issues a conservatory order restraining the Respondents (Gratify Solutions International Ltd, Virginia Wacheke Muriithi, Boniface Owino, and Ann Njeri Kihara) from recruiting, transporting, harbouring, exploiting, facilitating, or engaging in the export or deployment of Kenyan workers to foreign jurisdictions,” ruled Justice Wasilwa.

The court’s intervention marks a critical moment in Kenya’s fight against transnational human trafficking, especially as more returnees step forward to reveal the extent of abuse abroad.

Okindo’s petition recounts his journey began shortly after completing a diploma in mass communication. Aged 26, he sought greener pastures abroad and contacted Gratify Solutions International Ltd through Ms Wacheke, who—along with Ms Njeri and Mr Owino—processed his overseas placement.

“On December 15, 2024, the Petitioner(Okindo) arrived at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport from his home in Umoja in time for his scheduled departure at 5:00 pm to Bangkok, Thailand, where he was to work as a customer service personnel, leveraging his educational background in mass communication,” reads the court papers.

Upon arrival, his passport was confiscated. He was driven to the border, ferried across the Moei River at night, and taken to Myawaddy, Myanmar—a known hub for cybercrime operations.  “They told me I couldn’t leave. I had no way out as they had taken my passport. We worked 14 to 16 hours a day, committing fraud. We were beaten if we failed to meet fraud targets. I saw people tortured. I never thought I’d make it back alive,” his affidavit reads. 

Okindo adds that he was subjected to severe physical abuse, as well as relentless mental and psychological torment, including intimidation, threats, electric shocks, solitary confinement, starvation, physical beatings, severe punishments, and constant fear for his life.

Okindo was rescued from the scam compound on April 4, 2025 through a joint operation by the Kenyan Government and the Thai military, and was subsequently repatriated.

He now asserts that he did not voluntarily offer unpaid labour, but was tricked into what amounts to human trafficking, forced labour, and criminal servitude

“Upon his return to Kenya and after obtaining legal advice from Lillian Nyangasi, Advocate, the Petitioner discovered that the Gratify Solutions International Ltd’s employment agency was operating unlawfully,” the court papers read.

 “The agency is neither registered with the National Employment Authority nor had it obtained the requisite permits to facilitate the exportation of labour.”

“The Petitioner is still undergoing counselling to facilitate his full recovery and rehabilitation from the criminal ideas and skills obtained during his enslavement in Myanmar,” his Lawyer Nyangasi told the judge. 

The lawsuit calls for a permanent injunction barring the agency from engaging in labour recruitment in line with the Counter Trafficking in Persons Act.

Okindo also seeks and demands compensation for rights violations and damages totaling Sh30 million.

According to lawyer Nyangasi, the petition represents the first legal action in Kenya addressing human trafficking for criminal exploitation, a growing but under-prosecuted form of transnational trafficking.

“This is the first petition in Kenya dealing specifically with human trafficking for forced criminality,” said Nyangasi. 

“This is a landmark case. It signals to traffickers and their collaborators that their time is up,” she added.

According to Nyangasi, most previous cases involved labour or domestic servitude, but the criminality dimension, where victims are trafficked to commit crimes under duress, is new and dangerous.

“We were desperate for jobs, but we were sold. We trusted our fellow Kenyans, and they sold us like goods,” Okindo says.

Justice Wasilwa has directed Okindo’s case to be heard on June 12, 2025.

Okindo’s case is far from isolated. On May 25, Rosemary Mwihaki-Mungai, 29, landed at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) after spending eight brutal months in Karbala, Iraq, under conditions she described as “worse than prison.”

Her family says she was denied medical care and abused by her agents when they requested help.

“When we told the agent she was sick, he said, ‘She can die.’ Those were his exact words,” said her sister Teresia, who had tried to replace Rosemary in Iraq so she could return home for treatment, a proposal the agents flatly refused. Her case, though not yet in court, mirrors the same patterns of deception and abandonment seen in Southeast Asia.