Editorial Cartoon
They were apparently recruited on the basis of ethnic and family connections with those charged with recruiting, while a background factor loomed large: that of having literally a flood of applications. Thousands of graduates of various levels turned up for an interview, surprisingly.
While no one appreciates a situation where officials look for right connections to get someone a job, or pointedly seek out only ‘homeboys,’ it is also a fact that recruitment standards and procedures were set for better climes, unlike at present.
When there are ten places and there are 50 applicants, standards can easily tell who are the most eligible, but if there are 200 places and 7,000 applicants, it is hard to sort out who is fit to pick up, for 90 per cent of them could have got any of those available places. In that sense it isn’t the standards that are at issue, first.
Out of the 7,000 applicants who are said to have turned up at the National Stadium where the perfunctory event was held, those finally recruited would unavoidably have been among those applicants, and most of them were overqualified for the job.
Since when police constables are supposed to even have a high school leaving certificate, let alone diplomas? Suppose one axes most of them because their education is too high and opts for more relevant individuals whom he may also happen to know personally, is that a liability for the force or just for public opinion?
Already job applications are beginning to look like a lottery draw, and unavoidably, given the tremendous pressure to find a job after one earns the right qualifications, chances that those who recruit shall be fair and above board are limited.
The reason isn’t that those at Immigration Department or the ministry are of less astute character than the rest of us, but the sheer fact of survival, that solidarity in life is first with kith and kin.
Thus when the family and relatives know that one is in charge of the ‘medicine’ for their youth to get a job, they expect he makes it, simply.
Put differently, it is easier to express disgust and scorn at what happened at Immigration Department, and perhaps the relevant officials there simply went too far, if the whole batch was picked from those with the same tonal ways of speaking Kiswahili, etc.
It would have been a more professional job if they were at least a mixed bag, say 30 per cent from some big tribe they know which, and 70 per cent from the rest of the country.
The reason for balancing is that each of us, when we have an opportunity, shall always seek to make it easier for our own youths to find jobs, so it is no use expressing disgust that Immigration guys are like the rest of us, but they weren’t professional.
So the issue here is to be realistic and admit that in these days of penury in finding placement for youths finishing school, a bit of oversight as to the most exacting standards will be there, but professionalism has to prevail.
One should not pick a non-qualified applicant simply because he comes from district Q or pick all who come from district Y, who are all qualified, and ignore those of other districts or regions.
It means that the rules have to be reformulated to include an element of prudence and probity in how recruitments in the public service are being done, and where possible, the same should be done in private firms.
None of this will be easy, but professional bodies should seek to convene consultations, and peer bodies should be formed in recruitment exercises as well. The issue shall not be to overly constrain those who recruit, but to ensure that abuses are scrupulously avoided.
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