The Bomet government has sought to assure residents that recruitment for vacant positions will continue despite a court case seeking to suspend the process.
Governor Hillary Barchok said he will proceed with the plan. This came after three people petitioned a court to stop the process.
In a case certified as urgent at the Employment and Labour Relations Court in Eldoret, Sammy Koech, Patrick Muge and Peter Ngeno said the recruitment should be halted until normalcy returns in the country in the wake of the outbreak of Covid-19. They are represented by lawyer Rogers Mugumya.
The County Public Service Board is listed as a respondent. It has been barred from conducting interviews or hiring persons, pending the conclusion of the case. The court ordered a status quo be maintained until June 4, when directions on hearing and disposal of the case will be given.
Other respondents are the governor, county secretary, Finance executive, the county government, and the controller of budget.
For his part, however, Barchok said they have advertised vacant positions after new members of the board took the oath of office. The board is charged with hiring county staff.
The posts include early childhood education (ECDE) assistants, health workers, ward administrators and chief officers. The county seeks to create more job opportunities to enhance service delivery.
"I urge all the eligible applicants for the above vacant positions to keep checking the press and website for updates on the same… More vacancies will be advertised in due course,” said a statement signed by Barchok.
"As a county government, we have initiated several processes of coming up with sustainable interventions to address unemployment challenges to cushion our people from the harsh economic times, especially during this period.”
(Edited by F'Orieny)