Uasin Gishu on the spot over lost millions paid for non-existent jobs abroad.

Uasin Gishu County is in the spotlight for another saga, this time about a possible recruitment scandal.

Several young job seekers are demanding justice after they were allegedly defrauded by a recruitment agency that promised to hire them abroad.

Some of the job seekers who spoke to Citizen TV claimed that they paid thousands of shillings to a company named First Choice Recruitment and Consultancy Agency to get various jobs abroad just to join.

According to the report of the temporary committee of the County Assembly investigating the case, the plaintiffs had argued that a company named First Choice Consultancy and Recruitment Agency advertised the jobs on social networks and road shows, and later during its grand launch. May 20, 2021 in Eldoret at an event that was honored by prominent leaders.

Many of them had applied for a six-month contract job in Qatar to work during the FIFA world cup 2022. The submitted travel date came and went but nothing was delivered to the successful candidates and their several visits to the Organization’s office to know the situation. of the journey is said to be met with turbulence.

“Many people paid Ksh40,000 to Qatar during the World Cup, others were paying Ksh200,000 to Qatar for 2 years and when the problem arose we realized that we were the people who were supposed to go to England. who were paying 650,000 and most of those people, between of the people we interviewed, they just went,” says Kimutai Kirui, a male human rights activist.

The petitioners also claim that their efforts to seek refunds from the agency have been in vain and have been met with threats and intimidation.

According to Kimutai Kirui, several street protests organized by the victims failed to bear fruit, prompting them to petition the Uasin Gishu County Assembly to intervene.

The applicants had requested that the county assembly would do the following: (Photo) Ensure that the organization returns the money of the applicants and return their passports, review the criminal liability or fraud on the part of the agency, and take action and confirm the legal establishment of the company .

“You have never been told what you are signing, so you are not sure what you are going to do there. There are terms of reference but they are not stated. You are only asked what you have studied…I have read that you can be a manager but you have arrived. I have not been given the actual form to sign what you will do,” adds Kimutai

The petitioners also claim that they are being tricked into signing contracts that are not transparent

In its recommendations, the interim committee advised that in order to avoid such cases, the National Employment Authority (NEA) should conduct a thorough investigation of these employment agencies before issuing registration certificates.

The NEA has also been tasked with investigating recruitment and consultancy agency First Choice and, if found guilty, to take appropriate action, including confiscation of its licence.

The committee also wants the director of the recruitment and consulting agency First Choice to return the money paid by the candidates and to return the passports, original documents and other evidence they have to the candidates immediately.