A standoff between the Public Service Commission (PSC) and other government agencies, has leftover 3,000 interns in limbo.
Some of the state agencies on Monday, October 14 sent away the interns recruited by PSC in August 2019, claiming they were not involved in the recruitment process.
People Daily reported that interns posted to the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights, Kenya Ports Authority, Kenya Bureau of Standards, Kenyatta National Hospital, Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital, Media Council of Kenya, Kenya Medical Research Institute and the Kenya Revenue Authority had been rejected.
The Mediamax-owned publication further stated that it had spoken to officials who accused PSC of having carried out the interviews which saw an inaugural batch of 3,600 graduates selected, without involving them, leading to suspicion over the exercise
“The issue of KRA is still fresh in our minds, where the government sent in tens of state agents who ended up implicating the very people who were supposed to train them, in corruption. With the kind of situation we are in at the moment, who would want to consciously dig their own grave by allowing in would-be spies?” asked one parastatal head.
Others claimed that the interns sent were posted to very critical departments such as finance, accounts and ICT where they wouldn't trust employees working on a temporary basis.
The parastatal bosses claimed that PSC had not reached out to them to know their staffing needs before sending the interns.
“I reported to a government agency that deals with policy issues on Monday, October 14, but the HR department told me that they had not received any communication from PSC about my being posted there. They said they had already recruited their own interns and they had nothing to do with PSC,” one the interns narrated.
The government internship programme was supposed to last between 12 and 18 months while the beneficiaries of the programme were to earn between Ksh20,000 and Ksh30,000.
