Not all jobs whether local or overseas as promised by those local agents are genuine and approved jobs. Before confiding with those job agents, one should double check that their local agencies to recruit job seekers are first of all approved by the government and are registered legally.

Mauritius and other Third World Countries are easy preys to rogue job agencies and their agents. Many of those job seekers who in the past have confided themselves to rogue job agents have been left stranded in foreign countries without jobs, accommodations, food and money.

Most of the job promised by the local agents was not what was offered at the other end causing not only disappointment and frustration but also resulted in some who fell prey to the wiles of these job agencies taking their lives unable to endure the suffering. There were also those who had to return empty handed after parting with agency fees by mortgaging their lands or by borrowing. There were no job guaranties at the other end and no one to ensure the security and well being of the Mauritian workers.

We definitely need measures to be taken by our government to streamline overseas job recruitment through a high tech system. This would not only help eliminate fraud but would also ensure job security and personal well-being of the prospective recruit.

It is the lack of such regulations on the part of the authority concerned and the absence of such a coordinated  mechanism that led to many of our Mauritians being stranded at the other end with innocent housemaids being fleeced by rogue agencies. We need a law and a new system that will protect those victims from rogue agencies.

Mauritius has an overseas working force of over 57,000 at least with another thousand joining the exodus annually. Foreign employment being the country’s largest foreign exchange earner and it is only but fair that we afford them all the comforts and facilities. Already the government has provided these overseas workers with many concessions such as duty free facilities together with other exemptions. But it’s not enough ! What is most important is to ensure their safety and a congenial work environment.

So far there is no way of knowing the fate of many Mauritians housemaids who were subject to severe ordeals at the hands of their employers. Their relatives had no access to them and they had to run from pillar to post to obtain information about their victim relatives.

Therefore, we desperately need to establish a Bureau of Foreign Employment like other developed countries had done. The whole objective of this is to link with other government departments of these countries in order to get a hot line information about all registered employment agents and whether or not there exists cases of malpractices by employers on overseas Mauritian recruitments.

The hot line would provide details such as the validity of the recruitment agent, salary details, details of the particular job category and whether or not the relevant agent has the authorization for the relevant job order.

It is high time that those imposters who have been thriving on the blood and tears of innocent workers and employees should be prosecuted and be punished no matter where they are.