Judy Jepchirchir uses President Ruto’s name to intimidate us, Uasin Gishu job scam victim tells Senate

Uasin Gishu residents who claim to have been defrauded by First Choice Recruitment agency on the promise of overseas jobs on Wednesday appeared before the Senate Labour and Social Welfare Committee to narrate their experience with the company.

The youthful job seekers who have been protesting in demand for justice say they were allegedly swindled by the agency that had promised them six-month contract jobs in Qatar during the 2022 FIFA World Cup.

They say they paid thousands of shillings to the Judy Jepchirchir-led company to secure placement for various job opportunities overseas only for them to be taken around in circles.

Sammy Boire, a boda boda rider, told the Senate committee that Ms Jepchirchir has been intimidating them by invoking President William Ruto’s name.

“We are ordering Judy to stop invoking the president’s name to sell fear to us; this is a government of the people, for the people and by the people. That ‘deep state’ or that ‘untouchable’ narrative will not work, you have to return our money,” he said.

The Eldoret-based businessman said he sold his motorbike and convinced his family to sell part of their family land to foot the bill their sister needed as part of the job placement.

“We will protest up to your home because that is all we can do; we do not have jobs anyway. Judy has paralysed my life; I sold a motorbike and talked my parents into selling our family land so my sister could get this money for the greener pastures Judy promised,” he narrated.

Another victim identified as Nzuki accused Jepchirchir of lying she had reimbursed his money and also understating the amount he paid to the agency.

“Judy cancelled my cheque and it bounced. I paid Ksh.437,000, not the Ksh.400,000 she has stated in the records, and I have not been reimbursed a single shilling from it. She has listed my name among those she says she has refunded but that is a lie,” he told the committee.

Additionally, a female victim narrated how they were taken through a fake medical examination at a laboratory in a mall, for which they were never given results.

“There were no results. They were just telling us that our health is good but we did not get any medical test results from them,” she said.

According to the lady, First Choice only accepted cash payments before taking the job seekers through rounds of interviews. In some cases, they were told to add more money in between the interviews.

“The M-Pesa shop was within the First Choice’s offices where we were told to withdraw our money. Their payment receipts did not have a rubber stamp,” she told the committee, adding that she was taken through three rounds of interviews and told to add Ksh.100,000 onto the Ksh.40,000 she had paid.

Over 1,000 applicants are said to have paid for placement into the Qatar jobs. Jepchirchir has been labelled ‘untouchable’ after failing to honour summons by the Senate three times.

On Wednesday, the First Choice director and her legal team were kicked out of the Senate committee hearing after refusing to rescind a letter accusing the committee of siding with petitioners.

Jepchirchir has previously denied defrauding the youth, arguing that her company has deployed more than 7,000 Kenyans to various companies abroad in its four years of operation.