Tomorrow Tuesday the 4th September 2012 will mark exactly six months to
the next general election. A flurry of activities are preceding that day.
It is official count down to the biggest plebiscite probably all over
Africa, and most importantly in Kenya under the new constitution.
Just as a reminder, the next election will provide various opportunities
for the youth to be employed by government. The following vacancies will
be up for grabs in elective positions;
1,450 County Ward Representatives
290 Members of Parliament
47 Women Representatives
47 Senators
47 Governors
47 Deputy Governors
1 Deputy President
1 President
I have been encouraging young Kenyans to make sure they dominate the
County Representative positions because they will be the easiest to win
given the numbers of voters in the Wards.
Besides the elective positions, over 100 senior government officials have
resigned from their positions and will officially vacate office tomorrow.
This individuals will be putting their weight behind elective positions in
the next election.
It is a requirement under the new constitution and the Political Parties
Act that any Public Servant seeking for elective position must vacate
office six months to the elections. Technically one is supposed to be an
active member of a certain political party to vie on the ticket of the
party.
Besides the President, Prime Minister, and MPs all the Public Officers
and servants working in Government MUST resign and concentrate on the
political ambitions.
Many young people would have expected that they will get the opportunity
to apply and qualify for the positions being created in the spirit of
youth employment in Government. May be that dream is still too far from
being realized.
Given the notices provided to field those vacancies, there appears to be a
clear trend to marginalize young Kenyans from appointments to
constitutional bodies and independent offices even when they are fully
qualified for the appointment.
I was given a case of one fine Ms. Jacqueline Mbogo Asimuli who applied
for appointment for the position of member of the Independent Police
Oversight Authority. Jacqueline is a recognized expert in Police Reforms
with extensive experience within the field. Upon application for the
position, she qualified, was called for the interview and reportedly
received the highest score due to her in-depth knowledge of the subject
matter.
Unfortunately, Jacqueline was not appointed supposedly because she is a
young person aged 34 years.
To add salt to injury, the newly established Independent Oversight
Authority called Jacqueline to offer Training to the members of the
Authority which demonstrates that she was actually the most competent of
those who were interviewed for the position.
Young people demand that results of the interview for the independent
police oversight authority and other commissions that have appointed
members are made public and that the appointing authorities ensure that
young Kenyans are not discriminated from appointment on account of their
age.
The expectations from the young people of Kenya on the vacancies available
starting tomorrow be done in a transparent way in order not to
discriminate against age.
The advice to the young Kenyans is to ensure eternal vigilance on such
matters to ensure justice and fairness is applied when recruiting
qualified Kenyans on such plum positions. Otherwise we shall continue to
witness political cronies, relatives and friends being given this
positions based on their close proximity to the Political officers in the
recruiting Government agencies, and in other cases outright corruption
based on how much a bigger brown envelope one produces.
We are watching...
Emmanuel Dennis
National Youth Sector Alliance
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Emmanuel Dennis Ngongo
National Youth Sector Alliance
2nd Floor, World Alliance of YMCA Building
State House Crescent, Off State House Avenue
P.O. Box 8799, 00200, Nairobi Kenya
Cell: +254722619005
www.nysa.co.ke
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Posted By ED to The Future at 9/03/2012 12:16:00 AM
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