A Kenyan woman who had been working in Jordan was last week found dead even as 17 others cry out for help to be brought back home.

Jordani newspaper reports indicate that the woman, whose name was not given but aged 22, jumped from the second floor of a building at the University of Jordan Street in Amman.

"She was rushed and admitted to a nearby hospital but she died. Her body was transferred to a forensic medical facility to determine the cause of death. Preliminary investigation does not indicate the existence of criminal suspicion," local newspaper, Al-Ghad, reported last week quoting an anonymous security source in Amman.

News of the Kenyan woman’s death came even as 17 others sought help to be returned to the country, after fleeing from employers they accuse of mistreating them.

A Kenyan working in Jordan Sunday said that the 17 are stuck in Amman because they are unable to get their passports which were confiscated by their employers.

A local news site, Garaan News Sunday reported that the 17 are staying in a deportation camp after refusing to continue working for their respective employers.

"The 17 Kenyan workers came to Jordan to be employed as domestic workers but after a few months, they demanded to be taken back.

"The workers union said it was ready to help them but it turned out some of them do not have passports and have been unable to reach to their embassy for help," the paper reported.

AMMAN CONSUL

Jordan is served by the Kenyan embassy in Egypt although Kenya has an honorary Consul in Amman.

Mr Washngton Oloo, the Director of Diaspora Services at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs told the Nation that his office has not received information on the death, but was preparing to return the 17 back home.

"We have some girls who are stuck there and are in need of help. We are not aware of the death but I know of the girls who ran away from their employers.

"Arrangements are underway to bring them back home," he said by phone.

Early this month, the government announced it had banned recruitment and sending of domestic workers to Jordan to stem rising cases of mistreatment of Kenyans in the Middle Eastern country.

Officials of the Recruiting Agents Association of Jordan told the National Assembly’s Committee on Labour and Social Welfare that they had been stopped from employing Kenyans following a diplomatic spat between Nairobi and Amman.

The Labour ministry wrote to the Jordani government to stop any employment of Kenyans until a bilateral agreement is reached.

"It is still in place today. We are still developing a bilateral agreement with Jordan.

"We want to have rules and procedures for the recruitment of domestic workers," Mr Oloo said.