Mutua says recruitment for overseas jobs still on pause as thousands turn up in venues » Capital News

NAIROBI, Kenya, Feb 7 – Cabinet Secretary for Labour Alfred Mutua has reiterated that the National Job Recruitment Programme remains suspended and will stay on hold until further notice, even as youths continue to gather at recruitment stations previously advertised.

In a statement on Friday, Mutua clarified that the only ongoing recruitment exercise is the Kisumu recruitment drive, scheduled for Friday and Saturday, on the sidelines of the Nyanza Investment Conference, targeting job seekers from Nyanza counties.

“Members of the public are therefore advised to disregard the earlier recruitment schedule, which was set to run until February 20, 2025, and to rely solely on official communication from the Ministry for any future updates,” said Mutua.

He noted that despite repeated announcements across all Ministry communication channels and social media platforms, reports indicate that some individuals are still turning up at recruitment stations.

This comes as hundreds of youths were stranded outside Eldoret Polytechnic in Uasin Gishu County on Thursday after arriving for a foreign job recruitment exercise that the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection had advertised last year.

A similar incident occurred in Kisii County, where youths gathered for a recruitment exercise advertised by the Labour Ministry, only for the event to fail to take off.

More than 100 youths showed up at Kisii National Polytechnic, only to find no officials present for the exercise.

The nationwide recruitment drive aligns with the government’s plan to send one million Kenyan workers abroad annually to create employment opportunities and enhance labour mobility.

Mutua stated that during the first phase of the Qatar recruitment, 3,247 Kenyans were selected out of 8,000 available positions.

The programme is expected to positively impact the livelihoods of thousands of Kenyans.