Eight State firms shamed for failing to pay interns
The entrance of Egerton University’s Njoro campus. A week after the university's senate recalled over 18,000 students to resume classes, lecture halls remain deserted as the lecturers’ strike bites.
Eight State firms have been shamed for unpaid internships despite benefiting from services of dozens of youth seeking opportunities in the formal jobs sector.
A Public Service Commission (PSC) evaluation report shows public universities topped the list of those that did not compensate interns for their sweat.
Institutions that did not pay any stipend to interns engaged include Egerton University, Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture & Technology, Kirinyaga University, Machakos University and the Universities Fund.
Others are Coast Water Works, the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development, and the Lake Victoria North Water Works Development Agency.
Last year, 10,242 interns were engaged under various programmes, including the Public Service Internship Programme (Psip), specific public institutions outside the Psip and specific organisational programmes.
Exploitation
Unpaid internships have become a hot potato for firms globally amid concerns of exploitation. Some pressure groups have labelled unpaid internships unethical and stepped up a push for fines and public shaming of those engaged in the practice.
Many firms have, however, defended unpaid internships citing financial hardships due to budget constraint. For instance, an earlier report by the PSC has shown that the number of university graduates employed under the Psip had fallen by 729 last year, amid a cash crunch that has seen ministries and agencies barred from hiring new workers.
A schedule released by the commission in January 2021 had indicated that 2,421 interns would be deployed to various ministries, departments, and agencies (MDAs) under Psip, marking a drop from last year’s 3,150 recruits—an equivalent of a 54.6 per cent slump.
The interns, drawn from a range of courses including engineering, business, education, humanities, and animal sciences, are posted to State offices across the 290 constituencies.
More than one year
In its latest report, the PSC said that 41.8 per cent of public institutions recruited 3,220 interns outside the Psip programme.
“It was established that 2.6 per cent of the interns had been engaged for more than one year contrary to the internship policy that requires interns to be engaged for a period not exceeding one year,” the commission noted.
The report said 61.3 per cent of engaged interns received a stipend below Sh25,000.
