Jobseekers in the country will no longer be required to issue clearance certificates.
This is after Members of Parliament supported the Employment Amendment Bill with no objections.
Normally, Kenyans seeking jobs have always been required to give out clearance certificates from various bodies which include; Ethics and Anti-corruption Commission (EACC), Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI), Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) and Higher Education Loans Board (HELB).
Also Read:
However, from today’s move by the MPs, the issuing of the certificates which require one to pay for is something of the past.
The bill was sponsored by nominated Member of Parliament (MP) Gideon Keter.
In a statement, Keter said that the move was a cure to many jobless seekers who are engaged in the struggle of getting certificates before they can attend any interviews.
"The solution to all these bottlenecks is that an employer will no longer ask job seekers for such documents as KRA, DCI, HELB, CRB & EACC clearance certificates until or unless an offer of employment is guaranteed,” he said.
According to him, job seeking should not be an adventure where jobseekers must prove that they are not a criminal, or they have never engaged in any crime in the past.
“This country is not graduating criminals from universities and colleges every year. These are young men and women who are more than ready to offer their skills and knowledge for the advancement of this nation’s greatness,” he said.
He said that research was carried out by the Parliamentary Budget Office, and it emerged that the institutions required to issue the certificates have been collecting Sh750 million annually from desperate jobseekers.
He wondered why such money that is usually collected for instance from HELB has never been channelled back to boost the kitty so that more students benefit.
He said that it would only be fair if the graduates get jobs, then they issue their clearance documents within some period of time.
