Naivasha, Kenya – Joyce Iminza steps down from an old, white bus and boards a motorcycle taxi in Naivasha, a flower-rich town about 100km northwest of Kenya’s capital, Nairobi.

“Take me to my house. My kids are on their way home from school and I need to prepare dinner for them,” she tells the driver as she climbs up to sit behind him.   

In six minutes, she arrives at her one-bedroom rented house and starts cooking.

The 36-year-old has been working in Naivasha flower farms for 12 years. Despite the years of hard work, she struggles to sustain her family.

“I am a single mother. My employer pays me $100 every month. This is never enough for me to pay my house rent, buy food, and pay school fees. I end up taking loans every other time,” says Iminza.

She is not alone. 

Joyce Iminza has worked for flower farms for 12 years and is still unable to sustain her family [Osman Mohamed Osman/Al Jazeera]

According to the Kenya Flower Council, an association that represents cut-flower producers, Iminza is among more than 90,000 floriculture workers employed by over 300 exporters from Kenya.

Because of its favourable weather all year round, Kenya is Africa’s top exporter with an average of 360 tonnes exported daily.

It is the world’s fourth largest producer of cut flowers after the Netherlands, Colombia and Ecuador. 

In 2017, according to Horticultural Crop Directorate (HCD), a public corporation, the floral industry earned Kenya $823m, with Europe a major market. 

With demand for flowers skyrocketing on occasions such as Valentine’s Day, the sector is a top foreign exchange earner.

Iminza says the government, which is responsible for regulation, ignores the interests of flower farm workers.

“The Kenyan labour laws do not favour us as workers at all. Our employers take advantage of these policies and go ahead to pay us whatever is stipulated. Because of this, our lives literally remain at the same level no matter the number of years worked,” she says.

The minimum wage for an unskilled agricultural employee is about $65 per month.

This low minimum salary entices large cut-flower companies to Kenya, says Ferdinand Juma, the chairperson of the Kenya Plantation and Agricultural Workers Union (KPAWU) in Naivasha.

“The government thinks that the investors are doing us a favour because they come and employ masses of people. While in essence, these people are taking advantage of cheap labour as a result of our government’s investor-friendly labour policies.”

Ferdinand Juma, Kenya Plantation and Agricultural Workers Union chairperson, says a low minimum wage entices giant cut flower firms to Kenya [Osman Mohamed Osman/Al Jazeera]

Juma, now 52 and a father of seven, worked for 13 years cutting flowers before joining KPAWU.

“When I was a cut-flower worker, my colleagues and I never knew how successful this industry was,” he says. “[We want to] make sure workers are informed.”

Through the union, Juma has previously managed to negotiate better working conditions on behalf of over 30,000 flower farm employees in Naivasha. 

But the main challenge is, he says, that plenty of people take up these jobs because they are unemployed and desperate. 

One example is 50-year-old Leonard Karani, who has six children.

“I quit education when I was in high school due to insufficient tuition fees,” he says. “I struggled to find a permanent job before landing this one.”

Karani has worked for 18 years across several flower companies.

His monthly salary is $110 – not enough to feed his family.

“Our lives are defined by debt,” says Karani. That is the only way I can sustain my family. If I had other skills, at least I would search for other jobs. I have no options.”

Leonard Karani, a flower farm worker and father of six, said he did not have enough money to continue education [Osman Mohamed Osman/Al Jazeera]

Cyprian Onyony, a lawyer, says most labour law and policies were enacted during colonial times. 

While a significant amount of legislation was repealed in subsequent years, the employment law that deals with wage regulation has not been reviewed in a long time, he says.

“This problem can primarily be solved by the Kenyan parliament through the passing of minimum wage bills that can be revised within a stipulated time period. As the business booms, unskilled floriculture workers are able to feel success. The high returns should also trickle to better terms for the employees,” Onyany explains.

Back in Naivasha, Iminza, the single mother who works for $100 a month, finishes preparing her children’s dinner. 

“I have lived a life of debt – year in, year out. I have to take care of these kids all alone. I just pray that things change in the future,” she says. “That’s all I can do.”

Washington, DC – The House of Representative passed a resolution on Wednesday that would end US support for the Saudi-UAE war in Yemen, a strong rebuke to US President Donald Trump.

The measure, which was passed by 241-177 vote, will now go to the Senate where it enjoys broad support among Democrats and key Republicans. The Senate passed a similar measure in December, but that bill died when Congress adjourned for the year.

“Nearly all of the bombs that have fallen say the same thing, `Made in the United States of America’, ” Democratic Representative Jim McGovern said ahead of Wednesday’s vote.

“They fall on weddings. They fall on hospitals and on homes. They fall on funerals, refugee camps and school buses,” he added. “It is an aerial bombing campaign that hammers civilians every single day.”

Two amendments were added to the resolution before the final vote. The first allows for continued intelligence sharing with Saudi Arabia, and the second condemns anti-Semitism and declares it’s the policy of the US to oppose trade boycotts against allies such as Israel.

The bill invokes the 1973 War Powers Act, which gave Congress the ability to end US involvement in a conflict if there was no formal declaration of war.

Trump veto?

If the bill passes the Senate, it faces a likely veto by Trump, who avoided any mention of Yemen in his State of the Union address last week and whose administration has escalated tensions with Iran.

US politicians backing the resolution would need two-thirds support in both chambers of Congress in order to overturn a presidential veto. 

But House Republicans are backing the administration’s position on the conflict in Yemen, which is widely seen as a proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran. 

“If this resolution passes, we are emboldening Iran to continue its nefarious adventures in the region,” Republican Representative Lee Zeldin said prior to the vote.

The Trump administration maintains that because US military support to Saudi Arabia has been limited to aerial refueling, intelligence sharing and logistics support, the president is acting within his authority under the 1976 Arms Export Control Act and to help an ally, according to a February 11 statement by the White House’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB).

“Unfortunately, the resolution is misguided because United States armed forces are currently not engaged in hostilities in Yemen and it’s not clear what the resolution would accomplish,” Republican Congressman Tom Cole said. “The president is operating well within his rights.”

The OMB added that “in addition to [the bill’s] erroneous premise, the joint resolution would harm bilateral relationships in the region, negatively affect our ability to prevent the spread of violent extremist organisations – such as al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula and ISIS in Yemen.”

Pressure over Khashoggi’s murder

There has been renewed focus on the US role in Yemen after the October murder of Saudi columnist Jamal Khashoggi.

After offering several contradictory statements, the Saudi kingdom confirmed that its agents killed the writer inside its consulate in Istanbul, but denied that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) was involved despite reports that the CIA concluded the de facto Saudi leader ordered the murder.

“I don’t think it’s a done deal that Trump is going to veto it. It’s an uphill battle,” said Representative Ro Khanna, a California Democrat who sponsored the anti-war resolution.

Khanna is seeking support from Senator Lindsey Graham, a Republican ally of Trump who was outraged by the killing of Khashoggi. Support from Graham could help tip the balance in favour of the bill in the Senate, Khanna told Al Jazeera. 

“I am going to make the case to him, given his strong comments on Khashoggi and moral disapproval of the Saudi regime, that this is one of the ways we can collectively signal our moral approbation, our moral opprobrium on the Saudis,” Khanna added.

Ever since joining Congress, I’ve been pushing for the U.S. to end our illegal and unconstitutional involvement in Yemen. Even as support grew, @PRyan blocked the resolution over and over as tens of thousands of Yemenis died and millions starved.

— Ro Khanna (@RoKhanna) February 13, 2019

Most House Republicans voted against Wednesday’s resolution and instead urged passage of legislation providing military aid to Israel, cooperation with Jordan, sanctions on Syria and an anti-BDS bill. The Middle East security policy bill, which does not include language on Yemen, passed the Senate earlier this month. Democrats in the House have planned committee hearings on the Senate bill.

The US suspended in-flight aerial refueling for Saudi and UAE combat jets in November 2018.

The OMB February 11 statement said the Trump administration is supporting “diplomatic negotiations to end the conflict and promote humanitarian access, mitigate civilian casualties, enhance efforts to recover United States hostages in Yemen and defeat terrorists who seek to harm the United States.”

More than 10,000 civilians have been killed during the war in Yemen, according to the United Nations, though rights groups estimate the total number of deaths is much higher. 

The country, which has suffered an outbreak of cholera, is also on the brink of famine. According to UN data, 18 million Yemeni civilians face potential famine with nearly three million women and children “acutely malnourished.”

Representatives of Yemen’s warring parties met earlier this month on a ship in the Red Sea to discuss a stalled truce agreement that would allow humanitarian aid to flow through the port of Hodeidah.

“This is going to put huge pressure on the Saudi’s to come to the peace table,” Khanna said.

The European Commission confirmed it intends to name Saudi Arabia on its updated list of high-risk jurisdictions for money laundering and terrorist financing.

Other countries including Pakistan, Libya and Panama have also been added to the list, which the European Parliament is expected to ratify within one month.

Financial institutions in EU member states will now have to commit to greater levels of scrutiny for transactions involving high-risk countries, including faster access for law enforcement agencies undertaking counter-terrorism investigations.

After a string of high-profile scandals involving EU-affiliated financial institutions and international accounts, the EC is acting.

Sven Giegold MEP told Al Jazeera “it’s a sign of European self-confidence…the EU will insist on imposing its standards”.

Saudi impact

The effect on Riyadh is likely to be threefold. First is the threat to investment from EU-related financial institutions, who had been targeted by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman as part of his Vision 2030 reform package.

Second is the public relations damage from alleged links between Saudi Arabia and alleged armed groups including Islamic States of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, ISIS) and al-Qaeda. The EC is adamant that it has reason to believe Saudi Arabian individuals or financial institutions are at high risk of being used in money laundering or financing terrorism. These new measures bring the prospect of uncomfortable ties between Saudi Arabian entities and organisations accused of terrorism.

Thirdly, Saudi citizens around the world account for the second largest remittances market on Earth, valued at $37bn in 2017. Citizens using EU-regulated financial institutions can expect greater scrutiny of their accounts, with transfers potentially being delayed or disrupted.

Saudi-EU relations

Saudi Arabia’s inclusion on the list of high risk countries marks a definite shift in its relationship with the EU.

“Europe was simply not serious when it came to ML and TF, this is now changing,” said Giegold.

He said the decision to include Saudi Arabia is proof the EU is moving away from politically dominated decision making to one based on facts, though argued more must be done.

“It’s troubling that Dubai is not there,” he said, adding “there are 31 other countries still being evaluated; Dubai, Russia, Azerbaijan and others”.

Wednesday’s announcement sets a new course and will further threaten the development of the crown prince’s reform agenda.

Prince’s vision

Vision 2030 began in 2016 as a programme to diversify the Saudi economy and open it to foreign investment. Investment has stalled since the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, however, and the prospect of dealing with a country on the EC’s list may well deter investors in the kingdom.

The EU has been more vocal than the United States or individual EU member states in its criticism of Riyadh. The inclusion of Saudi Arabia reflects the EU’s disgust at Saudi Arabian involvement in the Khashoggi murder, as well as years of difficult questions from European voters about the challenges posed by international terrorist financing. Repeatedly the aftermath of attacks in Europe has seen law enforcement agencies’ work hampered by poor data sharing.

The list has been drawn up using a new assessment model that the EC describes as “the strongest anti-money laundering standards in the world”.

“Europe cannot be a laundromat for dirty money which sponsors crime and terrorism,” said Vera Jourova, European Commissioner for Justice, on Wednesday. 

Officially the kingdom’s anti-money laundering and terrorism funding efforts are coordinated by a committee whose membership involves several government ministries and agencies. The Saudi government does not publicise the findings of its own risk assessments, as many other countries do.

Countries can also be removed from the list and Jourova indirectly addressed Wednesday’s additions, saying “this is an invitation to address your weakness”.

Whether Saudi Arabia will answer the call remains to be seen, though Giegold was sanguine about the need for progress. “It doesn’t make the relationship easier, but it is necessary.”