Why It Is Hard To Get Employed At KenGen

KenGen is a state parastatal that is full of nepotism and tribalism.

Many a time, those that have submitted their request for employment narrate how they’ve reached in the final interview process but none got the job.

This is because most of the hiring is done on ‘who you know’ basis.

The interviews are usually a formality to pass the audit question in the Human resource department.

Founded in the 1950s, KenGen has a lot of former employees whose numbers are enough to supply a new crop of staff to the parastatal.

This means that 98 per cent of KenGen staff have a relative who has worked with the parastatal. It is therefore not easy to get an ‘outsider’ working there.

There are some positions which are filled with people who have not even gone for an interview. They are handpicked by senior Govt officials to fill in vacancies.

According to a job seeker, he was the best during the internship period and was sure to get a slot when the company seeks permanent employees. He was shocked to later hear that someone had already been appointed in the position he was eyeing.

The person that filled that vacancy was not even in the list of those that were in the industrial attachment.

Late last year, KenGen failed to explain how two directors whose contract time had expired got re-elected illegally. It also came at a time when KenGen failed to issue a profit warning as the company’s revenues plunged over 93 per cent for the year ended June 2021.

This lack of fairness has made it possible to find staff stuck in the same position for years as children of former staff and top Govt officials fill in top positions.

The corruption at KenGen HR department is a matter that is being handled by EACC.