More than 1,000 people on Tuesday turned up for the recruitment announced by Mombasa county assembly speaker Aharub Khatri.
The overwhelming number indicates the deep-rooted lack of jobs in the county.
Initially, there were only 200 truck driver slots and 50 forklift operator slots available, but DP World officials, who are conducting the interviews, announced an additional 100 slots for truck drivers and 50 for forklift operators owing to the numbers.
The jobs are available in Dubai and Saudi Arabia.
Khatri negotiated for the additional slots for Mombasa youth on Monday evening.
“I looked for partners from Dubai, Saudi Arabia and Qatar who could take our youth. For a long time we have seen youth idling in the streets because of lack of job opportunities despite having qualifications,” Khatri said.
The unemployment rate in Mombasa stands at 44 per cent for young people. This is almost double the national average.
The high rate of unemployment in Mombasa can be attributed to several factors including limited opportunities for young people to develop skills and monetise their creative work, and social and cultural norms related to childcare and housework.
The assembly speaker on Tuesday said he came up with the initiative to prevent youth from going astray because of idleness and frustrations.
“The more they stay idle, the more likely they are to get into vices like drugs and crime,” he said.
“These are our brothers and sisters. It is sad to watch them go astray yet we could do something to help,” he said at Mama Ngina Waterfront Park where the interviews were taking place.
The interviews were conducted on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Khatri said there are job opportunities in Mombasa but they cannot accommodate all the unemployed youth in the county.
DP World, the largest port operators in the world, conducted the recruitment interviews after a similar exercise in Ghana last week.
The 400 successful youth will be absorbed by DP World and be deployed at different ports in Dubai and Saudi Arabia.
Khatri said many youth have been duped by rogue recruitment agencies and lost millions of shillings in hopes of getting jobs in the gulf countries.
“This exercise is legitimate. DP World are a recognised company. There are no brokers in between and successful applicants will have everything catered for them, including air tickets, visas, work permits, accommodation. Khatri said the DP World officials have agreed to recruit more people should this first lot show discipline, hard work and commitment. Kadzandani MCA Fatma Kushe said Khatri has helped solve one of the biggest problems affecting youth in Mombasa. “By helping 400 people get employed, our speaker has alleviated one of the biggest problems we have,” she said.