First Choice Recruitment and Consultancy Agency has told the Senate that it did not defraud more than 8,000 youths in Uasin Gishu county of millions of shillings with a promise to offer them jobs abroad terming their transaction above board.

The Agency Director Judy Jepchirchir who appeared before the Senate Labour and Social Welfare Committee in Nairobi, Thursday, said they have deployed more than 7,000 Kenyans to various companies abroad in their four years of operation.

Jepchirchir who is a Kenyan by birth and a Qatar resident told the committee that they have managed to assist Kenyans to work in Qatar, Dubai, Poland, United Kingdom, Canada and in April 2022 they received demand letters from two firms in Qatar for short term jobs. 

“The short term jobs in Qatar were to commence as per the first communication in June 2022 but later the dates were changed since the Fifa World Club was rescheduled to November 2022 and after receipt of the letters we notified the National Employment Authority through in May 2022,” she said. 

The Agency Director explained that after the notification they advertised for the short term jobs and started registration of the candidates after which they underwent medical tests, submitted their documents, were scheduled for interviews, E- visa application and then deployment.

Jepchirchir told the committee that they managed to register 2,011 candidates for the Fifa World Cup jobs of which they managed to deploy 827 individuals while 189 were deployed to European Security Services and303 were sent to Al Saraiya Security Services with 51 deployed to optimize security.

She noted that 226 applicants were sent to Living Adventure to work in hotels as room attendants, linen attendants, receptionists, floor supervisors, store supervisors and bellmen while 58 candidates were deployed to Aamal cleaners. 

“I would like to inform this Senate committee that out of the 827 candidates that we deployed for the Fifa World Cup in Qatar, 718 of them are already back in the country after the completion of their contracts while 109 are still in Qatar under long term two years’ contract,” said Jepchirchir.

The Agency Director told the committee that they had 1,184 unsuccessful candidates and so far 396 have received refunds while 358 have since transferred to two-year program to Qatar and other destinations while 328 others are waiting for their due date to collect their refund with only 102 candidates undecided on their next step.

She revealed that on December 28 last year they issued a communication notifying all the unsuccessful candidates and whose statuses have not changed to visit their new offices to chart the way forward with several options on the table for them.

Jepchirchir said that one of the options for the unsuccessful applicants was for them to change to a two-year contract, travel to other destinations including Poland, Dubai, Lithuania, Turkey or wait for any arising opportunity of their choice. 

She revealed that the applicants also had an option of collecting their documents and apply for the refund under the company’s terms and conditions or transfer their funds to their siblings of friends who are candidates and are in the process of deployment.

“Regardless of the disruptions and untrue negative publicity labelled against our company by our competitors and people with ill motives, we are committed to serve all our clients with dedication and all our staff and stakeholders have their hands on deck and have started to rebuild our name,” she said.

Representatives of the youths who appeared before the committee last month claimed that the agency gave them false hopes of a bright future and they were conned between Sh40,400 and 150,000 each by a consultancy firm that claimed it could assist them move abroad for jobs or studies.

Kimutai Kirui, a human rights activist from the Centre Against Torture told the committee that most victims who are vocal against the plight of their colleagues were now living in fear having been threatened with dire consequence by those behind the rip-off.

“I was offered Sh400,000 to stop pursuing this matter and when I declined I got threats against my life, I was forced to move out of Eldoret for my safety and call upon the Senate to ensure that the at least 8,000 youths whose lives have been ruined get justice,” he claimed.

The representatives of the victims said they learnt of First Choice Recruitment and Consultancy Agency when Cooperatives Cabinet Secretary Simon Chelugui, Uasin Gishu Senator Jackson Mandago and Prominent Businessman David Lagat attended its launch in May 20, 2021, through roadshows and social media platforms.

The committee was informed that the agency had promised to assist the youths get studies and job opportunities in Qatar, Poland, Finland and Britain and their travel and academic documents were retained after they later discovered that they had been duped.

Lawrence Nzuki, one of the victims who completed his studies at Kisii University in 2019 told the committee that he looked forward to a job opportunity in Finland and also a chance to study for a Masters Degree and gave out Sh437,000 as down payment for the programme.

“When I went to the agency I applied to study in Finland, got admission letter from Tampere university and paid a down payment and was later asked to pay more cash yet we had agreed that I was to pay the balance of the required amount in installments when I settled in Finland. To my suprise I got a call from the university saying I had not paid fees,” said Nzuki.

He went back to the agency where the director told him they had a disagreement with the university and convinced him to apply to study in a university in Poland and would later be called and told that he had secured a work permit for Poland which he signed and was booked for an embassy appointment.

Nzuki told the committee that he honoured the embassy appointment but unfortunately got visa denial and on carrying out investigation he found out that it was due to a fake insurance policy issued by the agency and decided to visit Pioneer Insurance Company that had issued the insurance policy after which samples of genuine insurance were showed to him. 

He decided to seek for a refund from the agency when he sensed that he had been conned and reported the matter to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations in Eldoret. On November 1, 2022 he was served a letter through the agency advocate accusing him of threats and defamation of character.

“A few days later I was called by one of the agency employees known as Matthew to come and collect my cheque and refund and was issued with a postdated cheque that was not equivalent to the amount paid to the agency and on inquiry I was assaulted and I reported the matter at Central Police Station,” said Nzuki.

He told the committee that he was summoned to a meeting at the police station where he went with his mother and they were told that there was information that some of the applicants were planning protests in town and they were allegedly cautioned that he would be shot in the confusion when police disperse the protesters forcing him to accept the postdated cheque.

The committee chairperson Julius Murgor (West Pokot Senator) said they will summon Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki, Labour Cabinet Secretary Florence Bore and the Inspector General of Police Japheth Koome to shade light on the matter.

“We would be summoning the Interior and Labour Cabinet Secretary before this committee so that they can tell us what steps the government has taken to address the plight of over 8,000 youths who might have lost billions of shillings in total in this scam,” said Murgor.

Nandi Senator Samson Cherargei said it was unfortunate that innocent youths were being intimidated for fighting for their rights after being conned their hard earned money with promises of lucrative jobs.

Cherargei promised that the committee will visit Uasin Gishu county to meet with the victims so that they can understand the magnitude of the problem which has led to most families suffering depression after losing money they got from selling land to take their children abroad.  By Edwin Nyarangi, The Standard

In Sudan, fighting continues between the army and paramilitary Rapid Support Forces despite a U.S.-brokered 72-hour ceasefire, with airstrikes reported in the capital Khartoum and deadly battles in Darfur. Residents and foreign nationals have become increasingly desperate to leave the most dangerous hot spots amid worsening shortages of food, water and medical care.

The White House said Wednesday a second U.S. citizen, a doctor, was killed in the conflict. While the U.S. successfully evacuated its diplomatic personnel soon after fighting broke out on April 15, an estimated 16,000 Americans, many of them dual citizens, still remained in Sudan this week, though it’s unclear how many of them wished to leave. Concern is growing that violence against Sudanese citizens will escalate after foreign nationals are evacuated.

Tens of thousands of people have fled Sudan to neighboring countries, including Chad, which already hosts more than half a million refugees. This is a Sudanese mother who is now at a refugee camp in Chad.

Deski Abdoulaye Bedim: “Armed men came to our compound and asked us to leave before we became collateral victims. Under threat, we left in a hurry on a donkey to come here. I got separated from my seven children, and I can’t find them. We have seen parents massacred by Arab militias, while they have done nothing. We are victims of gratuitous barbarism that we do not understand.”  Democracy Now

Nine Umeme field employees deployed to disconnect illegal power lines in Iwumba village, Mayuge district survived being lynched by angry residents.

They were rescued by Busoga East police after residents ganged up and demanded to know why they were being disconnected yet they were previously connected under government's Rural Electrification Programme. 

After close to 30 minutes of watching, residents surrounded Umeme's operational vehicles which were about to leave and demanded that all occupants disembark and return the disconnected wires or risk mob action. 

According to Moses Byakika, a resident in the area, the process of distributing free electricity meters in their community was not effected due to unclear circumstances. This, along with the fact that planned beneficiaries were never briefed about the setbacks, made some residents to engage in illegal power connections with the help of corrupt Umeme employees commonly referred to as “kamyufus.”   

Byakika argued that, rather than disconnecting all the wires in the area, Umeme would have instead first gathered intelligence and disconnected only those with illegal power connections.

Yusuf Mutalemwa, another resident in the area, stated that although there are cases of illegal power connections, most of their houses were connected under the Rural Electrification Programme, and there was no need to disconnect them all.

Mayuge district police commander, Bashir Siriba said that the disconnected electricity wires have been returned to the affected individuals, and harmonious meetings shall be conducted between Umeme teams, local leaders, and communities to resolve the matter. - URN/The Observer

Four journalists who were detained along with more than 100 activists, lawyers and politicians in a mass operation targeting Kurds across Turkey earlier this week have been arrested on terrorism-related charges, the Gazete Duvar news website reported on Thursday.

A total of 128 people were detained as part of a Diyarbakır-based operation that was conducted in 21 provinces on Tuesday. The detentions, ordered by the Diyarbakır Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office, came three weeks before critical elections slated for May 14 that could extend President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s two-decade rule.

According to Turkish media reports, some of the detainees, including four journalists –Beritan Canözer, Mehmetşah Oruç, Abdurrahman Gök and Mikail Barut; politicians Hakim Kaya and Şahin Biçimli; and Abdulgani Alkan, a non-governmental organization member, were sent to court on Thursday after they refused to give a statement to the police.

The four journalists were arrested after they appeared in court. Canözer is a reporter for JinNews, the only all-female news agency in Turkey. Gök is an editor at the Mezopotamya news agency and Oruç is a reporter at Mezopotamya, while Barut also works as a reporter.

They are accused of membership in a terrorist organization, the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). All the journalists faced similar charges in the past and spent some time in jail.

“Fascism will be defeated, long live the free press,” Gök said in protest of his arrest. 

While the referral of more detainees to the court is expected during the day, it was also reported that none of the detained members of the Association of Lawyers for Freedom (ÖHD) gave a statement at the police station.

Two of the detained lawyers who have breastfeeding babies, Gurbet Özbey Öner and Jiyan Sametoğlu, along with actress Elvan Koçer were reportedly released by the court and placed under judicial supervision on Wednesday, while stage actor Şahperi Alphan Bayhan was released immediately after giving testimony to the prosecutor.

Meanwhile, the pro-Kurdish Mezopotamya news agency reported Wednesday that the statements of detained members of the Mesopotamia Language and Culture Research Association (MED-DER), journalist Salih Keleş and Halise Aksoy, were postponed for a day since there was no interpreter for Kurdish at the court.

Aksoy is the mother of Agit İpek, a PKK militant whose remains were shipped by a prosecutor’s office to his family in a box by Turkish Post (PTT) in 2020 after he was killed in a clash with Turkish security forces in eastern Turkey in 2017.

Many voiced outrage and frustration at the time over the way the remains were sent to the family.

Deemed a terrorist organization by Turkey and much of the international community, the PKK has been waging a decades-long war against the state for greater autonomy for the Kurdish minority.

In its report on Tuesday’s operation, state media TRT said police had detained people suspected of financing the PKK or luring new members to the group. It also involved suspects who allegedly transferred money to the PKK from municipalities held by Turkey’s main pro-Kurdish party, the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), TRT said.

The HDP — the second-largest opposition party in parliament — is widely seen as a kingmaker in the tight race.

Erdoğan has often accused the HDP of alleged links to the PKK, which the party denies.

The HDP said last month it would not field a presidential candidate in the May 14 elections, giving tacit support to Erdoğan’s main rival, Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu. Turkish Minute