10/11/2021
*RELIEF FOR JOB SEEKERS AS CLEARANCE CERTIFICATES WILL NO LONGER BE A REQUIREMENT WHEN SEEKING EMPLOYMENT*
*Job Seekers Should Not Pay Sh750 Million Every Year for Clearance Certificates.*
Earlier today, Members of Parliament unanimously supported the Employment Amendment Bill without any objection as the debate concluded. Previously as you may recall, before introduction of this amendment, job seekers were tasked with the responsibility of running criminal background checks on themselves so as to secure a mere job interview.
However, now a cure has come through this amendment whereby an employer shall no longer perceive job seekers as a criminal before they apply for a job. The solution to all these bottlenecks is that an employer will no longer ask job seekers for such documents as *KRA, DCI, HELB, CRB & EACC* clearance certificates until or unless an offer of employment is guaranteed.
Job seeking should not be an adventure where job seekers must prove that they are not a *criminal* or haven’t engaged in any *crime* in the past. This country is not graduating *criminals* from universities and colleges every year. These are young men and women who are more than ready to offer their *skills* and knowledge for the advancement of this nation’s *greatness.*
Public-funded institutions should never be *cash cows.* From the research done by the Parliamentary Budget Office, these institutions have been collecting over Sh750 million every year from job seekers.
This is a clear indication that they have been milking job seekers, most of them graduates, for years yet there is not a single cent that has been directly sent back to youth-empowerment programmes. There is nothing to show that these monies have been sent to HELB to boost its kitty, for instance.
As a country, we should pick some of the *best practices* from other jurisdictions that have relieved their graduates from this financial burden. For example:
In the *United Kingdom,* it’s only when you become successful at an interview and are offered a job that your employer will be required to carry out a series of employment checks depending on the type of job you are going to undertake.
In the *United States,* the states of *Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts* and *Vermont* have enacted laws that expressly prohibit employers from requiring applicants to pay for their own background checks. In Iowa, the law makes employers responsible for paying for criminal history checks run through the Division of Criminal Safety Investigations. In *Louisiana,* employers are required to cover expenses for criminal background checks and other searches or checks made on applicants or existing employees.
In Conclusion, first give the graduates jobs then ask for clearance documents. Young people should not be punished for looking for a job, let them earn money first to afford paying for these documentation. Nobody should be denied a job because someone suspects them of being a criminal. As a government, let us not make job seeking an unbearable task by adding an extra financial burden on individuals who are already penniless.
*HON. GIDEON KETER, MP*
*(YOUTH REPRESENTATIVE)*
