Nairobi, July 28 -- For three years, Evans George spent long days and late nights preparing banquet dinners, soups and other meals for presidents, the First Family, diplomats and visiting dignitaries.

"It was a fixed-term contract. I was attached to the sauce station-the section of the kitchen responsible for hot sauces, gravies and sauteed dishes-and reported to the Executive Chef, who approved every menu served at the president's table," George says.

Before joining the State House kitchen, George worked at Muthaiga Country Club. When the Covid-19 pandemic struck, he was among thousands of hospitality workers who lost their jobs.

"The hospitality industry was badly hit during Covid-19. Our jobs became very unstable, and many of us had...