CS Mutua Pauses Nationwide Job Recruitment

Labour Cabinet Secretary (CS) Alfred Mutua on Wednesday, November 27, announced that the nationwide recruitment for foreign jobs was taking a temporary hiatus until mid-December.

Speaking at Nyandarua National Polytechnic, CS Mutua announced that the break has been necessitated by preparations for the Jamhuri Day celebrations on December 12.

“As we continue with this journey, the recruitment drive will take a brief pause to accommodate preparations for the upcoming Jamhuuri Day celebrations,” Mutua said in a statement.

Justifying the short pause, Mutua said that the Jamhuri Day theme for 2024 dubbed, ‘Labour Migration, Entrepreneurship, and Entertainment’, aligned with the ministry’s mandate.

He also remarked that 5931 jobs had already been secured in the 10 days that the exercise had been conducted and that during the break, the government would take the opportunity to process the offers by facilitating the issuance of passports and certificates of good conduct.

“Additionally, this break will give us an opportunity to take stock of the exercise, realign dates, and incorporate venue suggestions from local leaders to improve the program’s efficiency,” he added.

New dates for the resumption of the exercise will be announced after Jamhuri Day.

Mutua further assured all the successful candidates that they would be contacted by Wednesday, December 4.

The recruitment drive, set to take place in all 47 counties has already traversed six counties including; Kitui, Makueni, Machakos, Nakuru, Nyandarua, and Baringo. The first phase will be done in 31 counties.

A few weeks ago in Nairobi, 3,247 applicants in Nairobi’s recruitment were successful in the job recruitment that is seeking to secure jobs for 20,000 Kenyans in Qatar, Europe, Canada and Australia.

However, it has not been without controversies as several applicants have reported claims of being extorted by recruitment agents at different centers.

During its Rift Valley kick-off on Monday, Nakuru residents reported that they had been asked by agents to produce between Ksh150,000 and Ksh180,000 in exchange for job offers.

Mutua however shut the claim down stating, “The agencies here are now working under my watch. Nobody will extort any Kenyan citizen for jobs when I am the Labour CS.”