No more mass hiring of staff, declares Mandera governor

Mandera Governor Ali Roba (right) and his deputy Mohamed Arai during Mashujaa Day celebrations on October 20, 2019. Mr Roba announced that there will be no more mass recruitment of county staff in Mandera. PHOTO | MANASE OTSIALO | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • Mr Roba cited public ridicule and nuisance in the previous attempts to employ locals.
  • He said the current county workforce will comfortably finish the remaining work for his administration.
  • The governor urged the youth to deceit from portraying his administration negatively.

There will be no more mass recruitment of employees in Mandera for the remaining three years of the current term county government’s administration, Governor Ali Roba has declared.

Mr Roba cited public ridicule and nuisance in the previous attempts to employ locals that ended up in courts, forcing him to cancel more than 700 job opportunities.

His announcement came as local youth, through their representatives, pushed his administration to employ them.

ONLY EMPLOYER

“I want the youth to understand that if they continue to spoil our name through social media, we shall not offer them job opportunities. We are the only employer and the youth should not just criticise us for no reason,” the governor said.

Mr Roba urged the youth to deceit from portraying his administration negatively and instead appreciate the little it has offered them.

According to Mr Roba, the current county workforce will comfortably finish the remaining work for his administration.

“The number of staff we have can work for the next three years without us having to employ more people,” he said.

UPLIFT LOCALS

He said recruitment is only done because the county government seeks to improve people's livelihoods.

“We only employ because we feel mandated to uplift livelihoods and keep our youth away from drugs and substance abuse,” he said.

The county boss said his administration will never carry out a mass recruitment but will only hire people on need basis.

“We have to manage these complaints that come out every time we are hiring. We shall never have mass recruitment,” he said.

In June, Mr Roba was forced to cancel the recruitment of more than 700 staff after the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission detectives launched investigations into an alleged irregular hiring by the county public service board.