Gov’t halts recruitment exercise for overseas jobs

The government has halted the recruitment process of job seekers abroad that was being conducted by the Ministry of Labour to fast-track the processing of the already selected applicants.

Labour Cabinet Secretary Dr. Alfred Mutua said the pronouncement was necessitated by the need to take stock of the progress so far and also align with the requirements of the recruiting agencies and the needs of the job seekers.

So far, the exercise has been conducted in six counties and, according to the CS, the turn out of interested job seekers has been overwhelming.

He added that there was a need to also keep the National Assembly and other key government officials abreast with the emerging trends in an effort to compliment and support the initiative to assist job seekers get access to such opportunities abroad.

Speaking after overseeing the exercise at the Nyandarua National Polytechnic, the Labour CS said the recruitment will resume after December 12th.

CS Mutua, who was accompanied by Labour Principal Secretary Shadrack Mwadime, said the hiatus is necessitated by the high number of applications received and the recruitment agencies might be overwhelmed and therefore need time to process the over 5,900 applications already received.

The exercise has seen many young jobseekers come out in large numbers to apply for jobs mainly open in Gulf countries.

Many job seekers, however, faulted the process saying that the agency fees required to process their Visas and passports are way above their means.

The CS however called on the successful applicants to fundraise the agents fees within their family and friends circles, arguing that the payments for the jobs abroad is lucrative and would enable them to repay their families on time.

PS Mwadime reiterated the importance of TVET institutions with equipping the jobseekers with the requisite skills saying that the most demanded workforce abroad are those with technical skills from Kenyan TVETs.