First class honours graduate stuck in village gets job offers

An unemployed First Class Honours graduate from Baringo County has been given a job by President Uhuru Kenyatta after her plight was made public by the media.

An elated Ruth Jemutai Rono, 27, from Lelbatai in Baringo Central thanked President Kenyatta for offering her a job at the Energy Regulatory Commission.

She said the President's office summoned her to Nairobi on Friday where she was offered the job.

Ms Rono told the Sunday Nation that she has been posted to the commission’s offices in Upper Hill, Nairobi.

STARTS MONDAY

“I will start working on Monday,” she said.

Ms Rono added that she has already been assigned an official to guide her.

“I don’t have any experience but I promise to give my best and serve our country. I am sure my employer and seniors will not be disappointed. My prayer of getting a job has finally been answered,” she said.

She had been overwhelmed by the interest and concern shown by many Kenyans after her plight was highlighted by Nation.co.ke on Tuesday.

Ms Rono added that she did not turn down the job offers from the other organisations that expressed willingness to help her.

“I had to take the job given to me by the President. I appeal to the companies and organisations that offered to help me to give those jobs to unemployed young graduates,” added the elated Ms Rono.

Dozens of jobs have been offered to a university graduate who has been languishing in misery at home in Baringo despite getting a first class honours degree in economics from Chuka University.

Ms Rono graduated from university in 2015 but has been doing manual jobs in order to take care her siblings whom she was left with after her parents separated.

SIBLINGS

When the Nation caught up with her in Kabarnet town on Wednesday evening, the elated Ms Rono was making copies of her academic documents before deciding on what job offer to take.

According to Ms Rono, after her predicament was aired by the media, she received several calls from different organisations promising to give her paid internship.

“The Reale Hospital in Eldoret has contacted me. They are promising to give me a paid internship and a medical insurance for my ailing mother,” said Ms Rono.

“Lecturers from Chuka University where I schooled have also asked me to go and teach business studies at the local Ndagani Secondary School as they look for a better job for me at the university,” she added.

An organisation in Utawala, Nairobi is also ready to give her a paid internship for Sh30,000 a month and accommodation.

“They have also promised to rent a house for my siblings to school at Utawala Primary School,” she said.

Giselle Foundation from Kisumu has also offered to give her a fulltime job, pay fees for her siblings and look for someone to take of them.

The Baringo County government has also contacted her seeking to take her in as an intern.

BREADWINNER

“I am very grateful to those who have tried to contact me to address my plight. I have not made any decision but I am willing to work in an organisation that can pay me owing to the problems I have at home,” Ms Rono told the Nation.

When the Nation toured her home on Tuesday, the firstborn in a family of eight said she was the sole breadwinner.

She also takes care of her two sisters who are disabled and need constant monitoring.

Her mother returned to her parents three years ago after she suffered depression while her father is a habitual drunkard which has led him to abdicate his responsibilities.

Ms Rono told the Nation that during her secondary school days, she used to walk for 20 kilometres from her home to school.