In Kenya today, securing employment has become less about qualifications and more about connections, influence or bribes. Many job seekers, especially fresh graduates find themselves sidelined not because they lack skills but because they lack the financial muscle to “buy” a job.
Fairness in the hiring process in many cases, increasingly feels like a thing of the past since “who knows who” and the “kitu kidogo” works best in the system. This makes many graduates suffer from depression since their tarmacking in the job search bears no fruits. This erodes trust in both public and private institutions and crushes the hopes of honest, hardworking individuals. Talented candidates are often overlooked in favour of those who can afford to pay their way in. Now, the graduates who don’t have the financial muscles are left with only one hope, the hope to wait for their God who maybe will help them land a job fairly through His mercies.
In my conclusion, it’s high time hiring managers as well as the government take deliberate steps to ensure transparency in hiring. The government should take strict measures to curb bribes on the hiring process and those caught involved in these acts should face the law. Let’s employ one based on his or her qualifications since by doing so we will have a better country moving forward smoothly.
By David Nyaga,
Journalist.