Over 3,000 brace morning cold at Sarova to get employed as country falls flat to graft

 

Thousands line up for job interviews at Sarova Stanely Hotel.

Kenyan’s high rate of unemployment manifested yet again on Saturday morning as tens of thousands braced early morning cold to get an opportunity to work with Sarova Stanley Hotel, who had announced job offers in one of their departments.

The scenario could clearly challenge the government’s report that the employment rate stands at 77.4 per cent.

By 10:30 am in the morning, a long queue which could be of the size of more than one Kilometer was locked lying on a marked wall, an exercise which according to the management had begun at 6:30 am on Saturday morning.

Some came as early as 5AM for the interviews at the hotel. (Elvis Ogina, Standard)

“I came here at 5 am. I am yet to gain entry into the interviewing panel although more entry by job hopefuls has been blocked which has locked down thousands who came here early armed with their CVs,” Jane Muthoni, who has a degree in hospitality and was one of the candidates told the Standard.

With optimism gleaming in their faces, some of the hopeful job candidates kept themselves busy with national newspapers. Majority of them seemed to be enjoying a slice of the stories on the national dailies delving into the billions of shillings scandals that seemed to have carried headlines of the day in the national newspapers as they waited for their turn.

“I am almost getting in, to present myself. I have a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from JKUAT. I was among the first group to arrive here to try my luck,” one of the hopefuls who was reading a newspaper in the queue but asked for anonymity told us.

The scenario could clearly challenge the government’s report that the employment rate stands at 77.4 per cent. (Elvis Ogina, Standard)

This comes as the country seems to have been fell flat by cartels companies who in the latest NYS scandal are said to have siphoned 9 billion through dubious tendering processes. Also on the list is the maize scandal where 18 merchants are said to have benefited from billions of shillings that were meant to buy maize from farmers.

Surprisingly, according to the latest survey by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics which was released in March 2018, it is only seven million Kenyans that are unemployed. Out of these, the March 2018 report cites that 1.4 million have desperately been looking for work while the rest have long given up on job hunting, with some opting to go back for further studies.

Over three thousand people braced early morning cold to get a chance to attend the interviews. (Elvis Ogina, Standard)

“Up to 19.5 million Kenyans are active in the labor force, majority of them in low-cadre, poor-paying jobs. 3.7 million or 20.4 per cent of the employed persons in the working-age population are under-employed and ready to work for more hours, but they have not been given an opportunity,” the report said.
According to the report which seems to be totally off the reality, Kenya’s unemployment rate is at 7.4 per cent, a significant departure from a high of 40 per cent that has been canvassed around since 2016.

The Sarova Stanley Hotel had advertised for the vacant positions a while ago. (Elvis Ogina, Standard)

Unemployment Highlights

-A UN report recently indicated that Kenya’s rate of unemployment is now equal to those in neighboring countries of Ethiopia and Rwanda combined.

-Kenya's youth unemployment is the leading one in the eastern Africa region

-In 2016, there were about 25 million Kenyans in the working-age bracket of between 15 and 64 years. Out of these, 78 per cent were economically active.

-According to the 2018 KNBS report, the working-age population is expected to increase to 28.5 million by 2020, as at now, 5.6 million Kenyans of working-age are economically inactive

-Based on the United Nations estimates, the current population of Kenya is 48,609,428, ranking number 29 in the list of top countries by population.

-This is a 10 million people increase from 2009 when the last census indicated that the country had 38.6 million people