- The internship programme was started by the PSC in 2019 to equip graduates with requisite skills, work ethics and hands-on experience.
- The programme offered the youth financial incentives in the form of a monthly stipend of Sh25,000.
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Thousands of interns have threatened to occupy Public Service Commission offices on Monday to demand that they be employed after completing their internships.
The lot numbering over 50,000 says they have been volunteering in offices they were seconded to since 2019.
They said they have written severally to the PSC but their letters have not been responded to.
“The first thing they told us once you get the certificate of completion they are going to absorb us when they put the jobs in the portal but all those years, 2019 until now we have been striving to find jobs,” one of the in terns said.
The internship programme was started by the PSC in 2019 to equip graduates with requisite skills, work ethics and hands-on experience.
The programme offered the youth financial incentives in the form of a monthly stipend of Sh25,000.
On Thursday this week, PSC said the programme had so far benefited 25,200 interns from Cohort I to Cohort VI, since inception.
The PSC interns said they have been languishing in joblessness since their internships ended and now they feel like they were “trained and dumped”.
“This thing must stop, our generation you do not use us and dump us, we are ‘undumpable’. So on Monday, all of you, if you are a graduate, if you are a parent who has invested in education, let’s come out. We must speak, our voices must be heard,” a leader of the group said during a press conference.
He said they have all the necessary documents and clearance certificates from all relevant agencies and authorities including the PSC itself save for job opportunities.
In its statement on Thursday, PSC said it has competitively recruited 1,964 interns alongside other job applicants to take up advertised posts in Ministries and State Departments.
This, the Commission noted, is despite of limited availability of job opportunities in the public service.
“The Public Service Commission graciously appreciates the enthusiasm, skills, competencies and the new work ethic and culture exhibited by the young people who have served under PSIP,” the Commission said.
On July 15 this year, the commission met representatives of the interns at Commission House and addressed the issues they had raised regarding PSC’s recruitment and selection processes.