Counties give nurses, teachers jobs

By Gatonye Gathura                                     

Kenya: The nursing and early child education sectors may be the biggest job creators in the devolution process, having generated more than 10,000 new positions this year alone.

Early education, which involves the development and learning of children aged zero to five years, has had the upper hand, with counties such as Siaya and Bungoma last week announcing their intentions to hire 2,000 teachers each.

In an ongoing process that started on Thursday, the Makueni county government is holding interviews to fill some 900 positions for early child educators.

The interviews, being conducted at 12 centres across the county, will be completed by Thursday this week, making Makueni among the first to employ a critical mass of nursery school teachers.

Taita-Taveta County on Thursday cancelled an advertisement for about 600 early education teachers but at the same time re-advertised similar positions.

The only change made to the new notice was the omission of expected salary scales for the various categories.

Going by the earlier notice, certificate-only holders would start at Sh10,380 per month with a three-year contact while diploma holders would have received Sh16,692 per month for a similar contractual period. Supervisors will also start on the latter scale.

Other counties that have recently advertised or announced intentions to recruit early education teachers are Nandi (800), Kwale (684), Tana River (300), Trans Nzoia (766) and Kirinyaga among others.

Major political win

The engagement of locals in professional jobs is a major political win for governors, almost all of who were elected by the youth on the promise of job creation.

But the bubble could yet burst. Over the weekend, the Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) told governors to stop hiring early childhood and development education teachers.

Knut Deputy Secretary General Hezron Otieno was quoted by The Star newspaper telling governors it was not their responsibility to employ for the sector but that of the Teachers Service Commission (TSC).

Knut First National Chairman Samson Kaguma was also quoted saying TSC was looking for Sh4.8 billion to recruit 24,000 nursery teachers, which would see each public school get at least one trained teacher.

A similar picture is unfolding in the recruitment of nurses and other medical personnel as most functions in the health sector have been devolved.

In an interview with The Standard over the weekend, Health Cabinet Secretary James Macharia said the Government had already approved Sh3.7 billion for the hiring of nurses.

He said the national government was working with counties to ensure that the exercise was carried out within established standards and guidelines.

However, several counties seem to have advanced plans in place to recruit nurses and other health personnel.

Not everybody is excited about the new opportunities, however.

According to Garissa Governor Nathif Jama, two months after offering teaching and nursing training scholarships, nobody had applied for them.

The county depends on people from other regions for these positions.

The push by governors to create jobs for their people, and a Government that is scared of an almost impossible public wage bill could attract new confrontations in the uneasy relationship between the county and national governments.