The inaugural batch of 3,100 graduate interns under the Public Service Internship Programme, was recently deployed to various ministries, departments and agencies to start a year’s program following allocation of Sh1 billion by Parliament for its implementation.
The Public Service Commission (PSC) said the graduates would work under the supervision of skilled workers, seasoned mentors and career civil servants who would provide career guidance, life skills and work experience that the job market requires.
However, the interns were not warmly welcomed in some of the government agencies as they were asked to return to the recruiting agency. Interns deployed to the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights, Kenya Ports Authority, Kenya Bureau of Standards, Kenyatta National Hospital, Moi Teaching, and Referral Hospital, Media Council of Kenya, Kenya Medical Research Institute and the Kenya Revenue Authority were rejected.
“I reported to a government agency that deals with policy issues on Monday, but the HR department told me that they had not received any communication from PSC about my being posted there. They said they had already recruited their own interns and they had nothing to do with PSC,” said an IT graduate.
In their defense, some state corporations claimed that some areas such as finance, accounts, and ICT are sensitive that they cannot trust someone from outside to work on a temporary basis, while others said that PSC did not ask them for their staffing needs to enable them to specify the kind of interns they required.
Commenting on the incident, PSC head of communications Browne Kutswa said that they have received the complaints and are working towards resolving the issue.
