{"id":838727,"date":"2026-11-04T04:20:00","date_gmt":"2026-11-04T09:20:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/?p=838727"},"modified":"2026-11-04T04:20:00","modified_gmt":"2026-11-04T09:20:00","slug":"kenyan-workers-turned-back-by-saudi-ebola-rules-say-they-sold-land-for-jobs-that-vanished","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/838727","title":{"rendered":"Kenyan workers turned back by Saudi Ebola rules say they sold land for jobs that vanished"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Kenya's<\/figure>\n

Kenya’s ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Joseph Masila, right, meets Faisal Abdulaziz Nasser Alkathiry of Maharah Human Resources Company at the Kenyan embassy in Riyadh on November 3, 2026, in a photo released by the embassy. Photo: Kenya Embassy, Riyadh (@KenyaRiyadh) via X<\/em><\/p>\n

Kenyan job seekers sent home after Saudi Arabia barred travelers from Kenya over Ebola said they had sold land and borrowed money for the jobs, as Nairobi reported five patients recovered.<\/p>\n

More than 350 Kenyan workers who held valid Saudi work visas landed back at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi at about 1:30 PM on Sunday, November 2, after they were refused entry and spent days stranded in transit, the Daily Nation reported. Many of them had left Kenya on October 30, the day Riyadh suspended visas for travelers from the country. Kuwait has introduced similar restrictions, and Kenya’s State Department for Foreign Affairs said on Sunday that it had asked both governments to review them.<\/p>\n

Speaking to reporters at the airport, the returning workers described the days of waiting as humiliating. “We were treated so harshly as though we had leprosy. We only took one meal per day and slept on the cold floors at the airport,” Kanyi Njau, one of the workers, told The Standard, adding that some had lost their luggage. She said the money was the bigger wound. “Some of us sold things in our houses, even land. Some even took loans from shylocks just so that we could travel over there for the jobs, but now we are back with no hope,” she said. The workers asked the government to settle the matter before their visas expire.<\/p>\n

Recruiters say the losses are spreading through their whole business. Monika Mwema, secretary general of the Association of Skilled Migrant Agencies of Kenya, told The Standard that agencies were “caught off guard,” with some workers coming home while others held confirmed tickets to fly the same night. She asked whether the Saudi rule, which is tied to a 21 day period, means workers must be quarantined in Kenya or in a third country before they can enter the kingdom, and she warned that Saudi work visas must be used within 90 days of being stamped. An assistant secretary general of the association told the Daily Nation that about 150 more workers were still in transit and that documents for some 2,200 other applicants had already been processed. Saudi Arabia is Kenya’s biggest market for labor migration, and more than 350,000 Kenyans live there, according to Kenyan media reports.<\/p>\n

On social media, Kenyans followed the story with anger and some sympathy for Riyadh’s caution. Onjolo Kenya (@onjolo_kenya), an environmentalist with a large following, summed up the case: the group “left Kenya on Oct 30, the day Riyadh suspended visas for travellers from Kenya, and landed back at JKIA on Nov 2.” Chemingoes (@Koecheruiyot), who describes himself as a communications worker and storyteller, wrote that some of the workers “say they borrowed heavily to fund travel and want Kenya to intervene.” Another user, Makwara (@iam_makwara), replied directly to the Kenyan embassy in Riyadh, telling it to address the reported ban on visas for Kenyans because “that is the issue that needs immediate attention.”<\/p>\n

The embassy, for its part, spent Tuesday on labor relations. It said Ambassador Joseph Masila met Faisal Abdulaziz Nasser Alkathiry, director of international recruitment and relations at Maharah Human Resources Company, a Saudi recruiter, to discuss expanding jobs for skilled Kenyan workers and preparing them for the Saudi labor market, while “ensuring the welfare and protection of Kenyan workers in the Kingdom.” Its statement did not mention the Ebola restrictions or the workers who were sent home.<\/p>\n

At home, the outbreak appears to be slowing. The Ministry of Health said on Tuesday that five patients had recovered and were being discharged and that 46 more contacts had completed quarantine, with no new case reported since October 19 and “no evidence of community transmission.” Director General for Health Patrick Amoth said two of the patients left Kenyatta National Hospital and three left The Nairobi Hospital, and that the remaining 52 contacts are due for release by November 11, KBC reported. Kenya has confirmed nine cases of the Bundibugyo strain, for which there is no approved vaccine, and two of the patients have died, according to the ministry.<\/p>\n

On October 31 Mereja Media sent its report on the ban to Kenya’s Ministry of Health, its foreign ministry, the Saudi embassy in Washington, Saudi Arabia’s Public Health Authority, Africa CDC and WHO, inviting comment and corrections. The Saudi embassy sent only an automatic reply, and the Kenyan ministries, the Saudi health authority and Africa CDC had not replied by Tuesday. A World Health Organization spokesman, Christian Lindmeier, replied on November 1 and pointed Mereja Media to the travel advice in the agency’s published Disease Outbreak News notice on the outbreak, he said in his email.<\/p>\n

Sources<\/h4>\n