Malpractices rock the 2019 KNBS Census recruitment process
The 2019 KNBS Census due in August 24th and 25th has been rocked by malpractices ranging from favoritism to outright bribery allegations. The exercise that is to cost the taxpayer shs 18.5 billion, has seen majority of the jobless youth miss out on the opportunity to be enumerators and supervisors, as most of these chances were given to civil servants who already have paychecks. According to majority of the youth who applied for the census job but missed out, the money they could have raised from the census jobs were to be used to set up their own small businesses that they said could turn out to be the source of their pocket money, even as they look forward to getting more meaningful jobs in the future. However, the government thought it wise to give the 2019 KNBS Census jobs to their parents, probably reasoning that the parents are more mature to both handle the job and the money that come with it.
The decision by KNBS to hand over the jobs to the employed however angered a number of youths, with many of them complaining that the recruitment process was accompanied by high level of malpractices. For instance, the youth in Molo, Nakuru County, took the matter more seriously and went to the streets to protest, claiming that they were being asked to give Ksh 10,000 for the higher positions and Ksh 2,000 for the lower enumerator posts. One of them was heard saying, “only youths should be considered for the position, wazee wakae nyumbani.” The chiefs who are mandated to offer the opportunities to the youth at their location and sub-location levels have also been accused of offering the chances to their friends and relatives.
The malpraces that have rocked the 2019 KNBS Census are however not surprising. In Kenya there is hardly an mass project that is done on the basis of merit and merit alone. A lot of the youth have missed out on police and KDF recruitment as these forces typically are given to those willing and able to part with up to shs 200,000 in cash. The President’s tough talk against corruption seems to be falling on deaf ears.
