Career dream dashed by pregnancy that never was

By Vincent Bartoo

Imagine landing a position in the military after long, tedious and tiresome drills only to be dropped a day or two after reporting.

That was the case for Gladys Jepkechei Tarus, 20, who was admitted to the Eldoret Recruits Training School during the recent military recruitment.

Jepkechei thought her dream of training in the Air Force had come true when she was confirmed fit and even given a military service number (109524).

Devastated Gladys Jepkechei Tarus narrates her ordeal to journalists.

Gladys displays the results after the fourth test at Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital in Eldoret. [PHOTOS: PETER OCHIENG’/STANDARD]

But soon her first shocker came calling: she was pregnant.

"I passed all the tests. They even took sample of my urine and tested during the recruitment. I was not pregnant," she explained this week.

Jepkechei was the only female candidate from Baringo Central District who qualified for the job, during army recruitment in Kabarnet on October 8.

But the military officials now say she is pregnant despite independent medical tests showing she is not.

Military Spokesman Bogita Ongeri confirmed the tests at Kabarnet turned negative but subsequent ones at RTS were positive.

However, Jepkechei wonders how she would be pregnant when she is receiving her menstrual periods. "I told them I know myself and there was no way I could have been pregnant. How can I be when I was going through my monthly periods?"

Jepkechei, who is also an athlete, duly reported to RTS, joined other successful recruits, and spent the first night at the school before officials dropped the bombshell.

"The following day, we were about to embark on the first round of training when I was called and told that my pregnancy tests had turned out positive," she said.

Speaking to the Press in Eldoret, Jepkechei said she challenged the findings but army officers and a police officer were asking her to leave the institution.

Chance Lost

An adamant Jepkechei did an independent test at the Eldoret District Hospital and, again, tested negative.

"When I went back to present the test report they did not believe me. They got me back to Eldoret at a private hospital for another test," she said.

At Mediheal Hospital and Fertility Centre, Jepkechei again tested negative but on arrival back at RTS, another shocker awaited her. "They told me it was unfortunate that my place had already been taken. They told me to try again next year," she told journalists.

In a telephone interview with The Standard On Saturday, Ongeri downplayed the tests at Eldoret District Hospital and at Mediheal and instead insisted Jepkechei was pregnant. "She was checked twice and found positive. We go with our doctors’ report. We rely on our own tests," he said.

He said her fate had been sealed as "we have our own peculiar standards when checking if one is fit to join the military".

But when journalists accompanied Jepkechei to Government-owned Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital in Eldoret for a fourth test, she was negative.

Jepkechei now appeals to Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission, which supervised the military recruitment, to investigate her case.

"I have no doubt, I am a victim of a corrupt scheme to replace me with someone else. It is very painful," she said, adding that her family was equally disappointed.

The family was very hopeful. "I would have been the first child in my family to secure a job. All my siblings are jobless. But now the dream has been cut short," she said.

She was one of the four successful recruits during the hiring drive in Kabarnet. The three others were male.