NAIROBI, Kenya – Stung by the rising numbers of victims of human trafficking, the Kenyan government is now being called upon to move with speed and curb the vice, which continues to threaten global and national security, weaken governance, and undermine human rights; erode the rule of law; weaken democracy; and hinder sustainable development.
In early 2026, Kenya was ranked second in Africa for human trafficking, according to the Africa Organised Crime Index report released by the ENACT project. The continental study positioned Nigeria at the top of organised crime and human trafficking activities, followed immediately by Kenya, South Africa, Libya, and Uganda.
While reacting to the report, Nkatha Mugao, the Executive Director of Frolics of Hope Africa, observed that there is a dire need for the government to establish human trafficking screening tools to help healthcare, legal, law enforcement, and social service professionals identify individuals who may be victims of the vice.
news9.africa understands that, unlike a formal legal investigation or a comprehensive clinical assessment, a screening tool is an abbreviated questionnaire meant to flag immediate vulnerability, recognise key indicators, and determine whether a person should be referred to protection.
“One of the critical things that we need to know is that, for instance, the Kazi Majuu programme initiated by the Kenyan government is a very good idea, but now we have to put in the systems and make sure that we sieve out those who aim to reap the benefits from the loopholes,” said Nkatha.
How most human traffickers conduct their operations
Trafficking in persons has become a cornerstone of organised crime, posing a critical threat to global security, democracy, governance and human rights. Most traffickers operate within structured criminal networks, enabling them to exploit more victims for extended periods and with greater violence, disproportionately affecting women and children, who frequently endure the most severe forms of abuse.
Nkatha stated that the first thing that Kenya should do is to sensitise every Kenyan before they leave the country in search of greener pastures abroad so that they can do so safely.
“We should be telling Kenyans: you can leave Kenya; go get a job, for example, in Dubai and still do work safely there, get money and still come back safely to your family without necessarily having to fall victim to human trafficking and start crying online to be rescued,” Nkatha said.
news9.africa has established that the key drivers of the human trafficking trade in Kenya are fake job offers; criminals target vulnerable youth and desperate job seekers with lucrative online job advertisements in IT, customer service, or hospitality.
There are also the exploitation tactics where, upon arrival in destination countries, victims often have their passports confiscated and are forced into modern-day slavery, cybercrime scams, or sexual exploitation.
How many Kenyans are trafficked annually
The report also highlighted a troubling trend where certain state officials protect mafia-style criminal networks, allowing trafficking syndicates to operate freely. Estimates indicate that approximately 17,500 to 20,000 Kenyans are trafficked annually for purposes including forced labour, domestic servitude, and commercial sexual exploitation.
Mutuku Nguli from the Counter Human Trafficking Trust East Africa (CHTEA) disclosed that Kenya serves heavily as a source, transit corridor, and final destination country due to its regional transport links and economic status compared to its neighbours.
“Trafficking is not only happening in Kenya. At the regional level within East and Central Africa, Kenya is both an origin, transit and a destination, where we have all the dynamics of practice within the context of trafficking. So, we not only receive but also send out. We are also launchpads for other rationalists who are also coming through Kenya to other destinations of exploitation,” explained Nguli.
In February 2026, Kenyan authorities arrested a 33-year-old man accused of running a human trafficking syndicate that lured citizens into joining the Russian army amid the ongoing war in Ukraine. The suspect, identified as Festus Arasa Omwamba, was detained in Moyale, a border town with Ethiopia, following investigations by the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI).
Officials alleged that Omwamba facilitated the recruitment of hundreds of Kenyans, including members of the security forces, under false promises of employment in Russia. Instead, many of those trafficked were deployed to the frontlines of the conflict in Ukraine. Police described Omwamba as a “key player” in an extensive trafficking network exploiting vulnerable individuals.
His arrest came after families in Kenya raised alarm over missing relatives believed to have been conscripted into the Russian military.
Additionally, in early April 2026, the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions obtained a warrant of arrest against a Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) immigration officer who failed to appear in court to answer charges in a human-trafficking case.
JKIA authorities mount a war on human trafficking
The officer, John Poriot, was scheduled to take a plea at the Kahawa Law Courts but did not attend, prompting Magistrate Gideon Kiage to issue the warrant and set a mention of the matter for April 8, 2026.
Poriot was accused of facilitating the illegal exit of two Kenyan nationals under the Counter-Trafficking in Persons Act, allegedly deceiving them with promises of employment in Thailand. Earlier in February 2026, vigilant (JKIA) detectives foiled two major immigration fraud and human trafficking attempts.
In the first incident, Iman Dib was arrested while en route to Amsterdam after being found with a forged Bosnia and Herzegovina visa. His facilitator, Samira Dib, was also arrested and faced charges related to human trafficking.
In a separate operation, officers arrested Ahmed Eltayeb, a Sudanese national travelling to the UK, who was found in possession of a forged UK residence permit. His Kenyan facilitator, Abdullahi Ali, was arrested alongside him.
Still, acting on a tip-off, officers busted a suspected human trafficking syndicate and rescued 70 victims who had been locked inside a house in Ruai, Nairobi, in March 2026. The victims included 66 Ethiopians and 4 Eritreans. One Kenyan suspect was arrested in connection with the case.
news9.africa knows that victims of human trafficking are moved through highly organised networks across East and Central Africa. Many end up stranded or abused in the Middle East (such as Qatar and Dubai) and Southeast Asia (including Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, and Myanmar).
Samson, a Kenyan survivor of human trafficking, narrated how he was deceived in late 2024 with a promise that he would get a job in Thailand as a customer service representative, but he ended up in Myanmar.
“I got a referral through a friend that there are some jobs in Thailand, which are so many even right now, on social media platforms in Southeast Asia. So, desperately in search of a job, I decided to give it a chance. I was connected to a lady here in Kenya, an agent whom I paid KSh 40,000 for the visa and another KSh 90,000 for the show money that you have to produce at the airport since I was holding a tourist visa expiring in three months. So, in case an immigration officer asks you the intended purpose of your visit, you say you are a tourist,” said Samson.
How a Kenyan victim ended up in Myanmar
Samson left Kenya in early September 2024 with a promise that he was going for a customer service job in Thailand.
“The agents paid for my flight. While here, they opened a Telegram account. We were four Kenyans, one Pakistani, and a Ugandan. When we got to Thailand, we were taken to Myanmar in a taxi. Life in Myanmar was horrible because of the torture if you failed to meet your target of scamming people. The scam had to be successful before you got paid. It is by sheer luck that I was rescued and safely returned back home,” Samson lamented.
According to UN Women, trafficking in persons and organised crime form a mutually reinforcing cycle that not only threatens global and national security, weakens governance, and undermines human rights but also erodes the rule of law, weakens democracy, and undermines sustainable development. Moreover, it perpetuates structural gender inequalities and fuels gender-based violence and discrimination.
The ruling Kenya Kwanza government has pledged to intensify investigations and take action against syndicates involved in the exploitation, while humanitarian groups continue to call for urgent measures to repatriate affected citizens.
Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen said human trafficking is a serious crime while urging the public to remain vigilant and report any suspicious activity to authorities.
“Human trafficking is actually selling human beings because eventually, they are sold as cheap labour, and some of them actually pay certain people to transport them. So, we have this same problem in our country, where some people are, for instance, trafficked all the way to Libya, and then when they get to Libya, they are held in rooms. Then their families are called and asked to pay ransom before they can be released, and some are promised that they are going through Libya to take boats and go to Italy, then connect to Europe,” explained Murkomen.
The CS emphasised that human trafficking is a serious international problem, which is why most people are sometimes moved to and trafficked through Kenya.
“For a long time, Marsabit has been the main route. But after a massive security operation to curb the syndicate, they now want to use Turkana and West Pokot, and then they cross over to Isiolo, all the way to Coast, with the hope that they will use funny boats here and there and move to the next country, going through Mozambique. It is a long international problem; it is not only an issue that covers Kenya alone. Our duty internationally is to make sure that we cut off this incentive because money is in play,” added CS Murkomen.
Meanwhile, Nguli reiterated that Kenya has a huge youth bulge population, which is actually giving all the countries a huge challenge of what to do with them.
“So, I think the smart guys doing human trafficking see a big opportunity to create very fictitious opportunities and situations that offer some unimaginable solutions that the young people who have failed to secure serious job opportunities fall for,” he explained.
Solving the rising youth population matrix
Nguli reiterated that there is a dire need to look at how the Kenyan government can continue to engage with its young population and how to address the issue of unemployment and the poverty levels that are eating into society.
“This is very important and cardinal in how we look at it as a country and as a people. This is where these human trafficking screening tools, which are scientifically validated and structured instruments, come in to solve this equation,” said Nguli.
Nkatha insisted that the people who are behind the human trafficking syndicate are there; they are known, and they will continue to exist.
“I want to believe the fact that numbers don’t lie. The fact that we were ranked number two is actually a big concern because that means we have a lot of our children, a lot of our women, and a lot of our youth getting trafficked and getting stuck out there, probably because nobody is there to support them,” said Nkatha.
She indicated that while talking about human trafficking, it is never always about numbers but about the families that are broken.
“When you talk about the impact that the trail of human trafficking leaves behind, it is actually something that you can’t even fathom because it is a lot of pain and anguish that some of the survivors go through, and we even lose lives in the course of it because there are people who can’t cope,” added Nkatha.
news9.africa further knows that the 2024 UNODC Global Report on Trafficking in Persons indicates that organised crime is a significant driver of trafficking in persons, accounting for 74% of reported cases. Trafficking in persons increasingly intersects with other serious crimes, including cybercrime and the illicit trafficking of firearms, serving as a major revenue stream for organised crime and, in some contexts, a source of direct or indirect funding for terrorist activities.
Organised crime is a significant driver of trafficking in persons
These convergences — particularly in conflict and post-conflict settings — pose a growing threat to international peace and security, underscoring the urgent need for coordinated, cross-sectoral, and transnational responses.
Women and girls continue to be the most detected victims worldwide, exploited in all forms of trafficking, but particularly for sexual purposes. Children, especially those who are unaccompanied or separated, living in institutional settings, or from marginalised communities, are increasingly targeted by traffickers due to their heightened vulnerability and a lack of protection and support services. Gaps in labour protection and enforcement, including unfair recruitment practices, further enable traffickers to operate with impunity.
Still, the U.S. State Department’s 2024 Trafficking in Persons Report classifies Kenya as a Tier 2 country, meaning the government does not yet fully meet minimum standards for elimination but is making significant efforts. But according to Nkatha, the number of people ending up in the trafficking rings is very big.
“And as a country, we need to be worried.” “Apparently, as a country, we have the necessary information. The government has all the policies on human trafficking. All it needs to do is act and end this vice once and for all,” explained Nkatha.
Just like Nguli, Nkatha agrees that effectively addressing trafficking in persons requires unity of purpose, clarity of commitment, shared responsibility, and a rights-based, gender-responsive and age-sensitive approach. This means coordinated efforts in prevention, investigation and prosecution, alongside victims’ identification, support and protection.
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