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{
    "id": 93623,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/93623/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 172,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Prof. Olweny",
    "speaker_title": "The Assistant Minister for Education",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 122,
        "legal_name": "Patrick Ayiecho Olweny",
        "slug": "patrick-olweny"
    },
    "content": "I will therefore, replace Mr. Paul Erop Lokulan, Mr. Eliud Nyaodo Nalipere, Mr. Joseph Lokal Ekai and Mr. Peter Ekeno Esimit with other qualified candidates from Turkana District; that is, those who have secondary school education. The list is available. Once-the post recruitment analysis is done, they will be given appointment letters and posted accordingly. That is to say that other people will replace those four who cheated. Mr. Speaker, Sir, the recruitment of low cadre staff at the Ministry headquarters did not contradict the circular from the Ministry of State for Public Service on the district-based recruitment as I had indicated to the House in my answer to Parliamentary Question Number 091 by Ms. Shakila Abdalla. The recruitment exercise was done at the Ministry headquarters with the authority and support from the Public Service Commission of Kenya. This followed my prior advertisement in the media for the vacancies on May 15th, 2009 upon which the applications were received and processed. This exercise thus superseded the PSC directive on district-based recruitment policy dated 5th June, 2009, which I received on September 14th, 2004. Further, the implementation of this directive at the districts could have faced many challenges since the districts had no adequate logistics and human resource capacity for managing an exercise of this magnitude. Currently, the District Resource Management units are headed by clerical officers instead of human resource management officers who are supposed to be in Job Group L. Mr. Speaker, Sir, I wish to disagree with the allegations of rampant corruption and discrimination in the recruitment exercise referred to by the hon. Member. The selection and appointment of the candidates was done in a transparent, efficient and equitable manner by the Ministerial committee and closely supervised by a team from the Public Service Commission. All the posts were filled on the basis of merit, gender, disability and regional balance in all the 253 districts. I also wish to confirm to the House that I have not received any official report on corruption from any person and other Government agencies, including the Kenya Anti Corruption Commission. It is not true that qualified candidates were denied appointment letters. I have not received any official communication or complaints. If there is any evidence of fraud by the candidates or by my officers, the appointment and posting letters will be cancelled immediately and the victims dealt with in accordance with the law and regulations. Regarding this exercise, and as I have explained above, poverty was not a factor for recruitment. In any case, I am fully aware that poverty is a national problem facing all Kenyans, and not Turkana District alone. Mr. Speaker, Sir, the Revised Code of Regulations for public officers does not allow me to make payments for candidates upkeep and reimbursement for transport expenses. It stipulates that officers traveling on first appointment to their duty stations are only eligible for appropriate transport reimbursement on the production of a bus ticket. The officers recruited from Turkana districts will be compensated when they report on duty at the stations where they were posted after fulfilling the requirement. Lastly, I assure the House that in future, the Ministry will decentralize the recruitment exercise by implementing the Ministry of State for Public Service circular on the district-based recruitment policy to address the challenges raised by the hon. Member."
}