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{
"id": 1106301,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1106301/?format=api",
"text_counter": 190,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Kiminini, FORD - K",
"speaker_title": "Hon. (Dr.) Chris Wamalwa",
"speaker": {
"id": 1889,
"legal_name": "Chrisantus Wamalwa Wakhungu",
"slug": "chrisantus-wamalwa-wakhungu"
},
"content": " Thank you very much, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, for this opportunity. First and foremost, I congratulate Hon. Keter for this amendment to the Employment Act. The Employment Act is specifically to provide regulations on matters of employment. It also provides for the fundamental rights of employees. It cuts across the entire chain, starting from the time of entry, during the work and during exit. When you look at Clause 9 of the Bill, one of the fundamental issues is about the documents that are required before you are employed. You are aware that in this country, if you want to run for a position, there are many documents that are required. When it comes to academic qualifications, you must have a certificate from a recognised learning institution. You are also required to get a certificate of good conduct from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI), which comes at a cost. Currently, organisations demand that you must also get clearance from the Credit Reference Bureaus (CRBs). In the circumstances that we are in, a majority of the people who are looking for employment are the youth. Statistics clearly show that currently, 90 per cent of the unemployed are the youth. Most of the time, those youth have just come from learning institutions. If you are told that you need a certificate of good conduct, it comes at a cost; so you pay money and you have to travel to that place to obtain it. Again, when you are told that you must submit a certificate from the CRB, when you go the CRB, you do not get that certificate without pay, notwithstanding the cost of visiting those areas and people at times demanding extra money for facilitation. That alone worsens the situation. Majority of the people who use Fuliza are the youth. If you have fulizad, your name has been listed in the CRB. Recently, there was a proposal that if you are unable to pay your Higher Education Loans Board (HELB), your name is listed in the CRB. Those are some of the practices that are worsening the situation and bringing a lot of problems for the youths in getting jobs. I support this proposal. I call upon prospective employers not to demand all those certificates. Those things can be done during the probation period. Ordinarily, when you are given a job, you are also given a probation period. During that time, an organisation can do some due diligence. They can even write to those institutions – whether it is the DCI or the CRB – and in case of any cost, the employer can pay and recover the money from the employee’s salary. That will be the best way to go. However, asking an interviewee who is not even assured of getting that job to incur the cost of getting the CRB clearance and the certificate from the DCI is wrong. I call upon my colleagues to support this. If that prospective employee has been given that job, the employer has an opportunity to write to those authorities during the probation period, namely, the CRB, DCI or even the universities because we are aware people are coming up with fake degrees. At that time, we will be able to minimise those costs. Currently, the youth are heavily disadvantaged. If we do this, it will help in reducing the cost of employment. We are aware that The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}