Clearance certificates: Relief for jobseekers in new law

Kenyans applying for jobs can now heave a sigh of relief after employers said they will begin implementing the new law that bars them from seeking clearance certificates from persons they have no intention to hire. 

Public institutions and companies demanded clearance by the Kenya Revenue Authority, the Credit Reference Bureau, the Higher Education Loans Board, the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission and a certificate of good conduct from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations.

Clearance certificates cost jobseekers over Sh5,000. Some of the certificates are renewed annually at about Sh1,000, a move that some employers termed punitive, but necessary in some cases. 

The Federation of Kenya Employers (FKE) yesterday said the Employment (Amendment) Act, which was signed into law by President Uhuru Kenyatta on Monday, was a move in the right direction. FKE, which is the national umbrella body and the voice of employers, said many jobseekers had been locked out by the stringent requirements of the clearance certificates, a problem the Act will now solve. 

The law bars employers from demanding those certificates at the job application stage. They will only ask for the documents once one is guaranteed a job.

FKE chief executive officer Jacqueline Mugo said many companies had sometimes been forced to drop many qualified job applicants, pushing thousands to the periphery and out into the cold.

“This has been a pain point for most jobseekers, especially first-timers joining the job market. They are at a very low risk of having fallen out of favour with any of the clearing agencies having not been in the labour market,” she told the Saturday Nation. 

Ms Mugo added that the Act is now a relief, not only to first-time jobseekers, but will also force employers to gauge the suitability of a candidate based solely on merit. 

“These requirements [clearance certificates] were really aimed at those seeking political office and senior public sector positions,” she added. 

The law will come into effect 14 days after it was signed, hence jobseekers will start benefitting towards month-end.  The changes were sponsored by nominated MP Gideon Keter.
Mr Keter argued that the requirements for clearance certificates was not only punitive and restrictive but had also become an avenue for exploitation by the “clearing government agencies”.

The MP said an analysis by the Parliamentary Budget Office, for instance, projected that state agencies issuing clearance certificates for purposes of compliance with Chapter Six of the Constitution net over Sh750 million.

“This is a clear indication that they have been milking jobseekers, the majority of whom are youths. As a country, we should pick best practice from other jurisdictions that have relieved their graduates from the financial burden, like the United Kingdom,” Mr Keter said.

Most employers in the past argued that the requirement helped them assess individuals’ credibility in a society suffering a dearth of trust. 

“Most of these requirements are part of what, in human resources, we call the point of data about an individual, and this is because society has become low on trust. It is also part of the filtering process during recruitment,” Ms Anne K. a human resource specialist in Nairobi said. 

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