A county government official was forced to cancel crucial job interviews on Wednesday, November 6, after members of the public became furious.
Siaya Governor Cornel Rasanga's County Secretary, William Onyango Luballo placed a full-page advertisement in one of the local dailies, cancelling the planned interviews, after it emerged that people living with disabilities were not represented, leading to an outcry from members of the public.
The interviews were scheduled to commence on Monday, November 11.
Speaking to Kenyans.co.ke, Siaya County Director of Communications Jerry Ochieng shed more light on the cancellation.
"The reason for the cancellation of the interviews was that Siaya County is an all-inclusive employee entity where there is no discrimination.
"When we realised that the people who were to be interviewed for the Public Service Board did not include persons with disabilities, we decided to cancel the interview so that we can do a re-advertisement for all-inclusive applications," explained the communications director.
The shortlisted candidates had applied to fill the positions of chairman and members of Siaya County Public Service Board.
He, however, absolved the county of blame explaining that it was up to the minorities to make the applications in areas they are qualified.
"If you get all applications that have been made to the organisation and people with disability are not included, then that is not the fault of that organisation or government and its head.
"You cannot force persons with disabilities or youth or any other gender to apply if probably they do not qualify. In this case, when we discovered that persons with disabilities had not applied, we are giving them an opportunity to make the application," he continued.
A report by The Standard had earlier insinuated that part of the reason the public was dissatisfied with the candidates was that almost all of them were aged 50 years and above.
A new date for fresh applications is yet to be announced.
