The Uasin Gishu County Assembly AdHoc Committee probing First Choice Recruitment and Consultancy Agency was on January 26, 2023, forced to prematurely adjourn its sitting.
Chaired by Ainabkoi/Olare MCA Gilbert Chepkong’a, the 15-member committee was to receive submissions from First Choice Director Judy Chepchirchir.
However, after over an hour of Chepchirchir being before the committee, the chairperson had to adjourn the session – after it emerged that she did not have all the documents that had been requested.
The committee had issued a summons to her to appear and shed more light on claims levelled against the agency in a petition by a section of Uasin Gishu locals.
According to the petitioners, they paid hundreds of thousands to the agency that promised to secure them short-term jobs in Qatar World Cup, but they never went.
At least 14 petitioners had asked the MCAs to probe the agency.
Handwritten documents
In summons to the First Choice director, the committee had indicated that she appears in person with relevant documents detailing the number of job applicants from Uasin Gishu and the status of each of them.
But when she appeared before the committee, Chepchirchir only had handwritten documents, which some of the members said failed short of what they expected.
“We want to have documents that when you are making your presentations we are able to refer to them. Documents that have your company letterhead, stamped and signed,” noted the committee’s vice chairperson Francis Muya – the Langas MCA.
Her lawyer Henry Kenei however said they might have misunderstood the summons – hence the reason they did not carry typed details.
There were also a number of areas of contention with the First Choice director’s attempt to limit information about the Qatar jobs applicants to the petitioners only being overruled by the committee chair.
Proper documentations
A similar verdict was issued on Chepchirchir’s claim that she might not be able to provide details of all the applicants until she gets their consent as per the Data Protection Act.
“The summon is very clear. We expect you to give us details of the number of locals that applied for the Qatar jobs, how much each paid, who successfully secured the jobs, who did not go, how many have been paid etc…” directed the Ainabkoi/Olare MCA.
He later adjourned the sitting to January 31, 2023, after a request from the First Choice director for more time to prepare the documents.
The Committee that is also probing the County Finland Scholarship Program has for the last few weeks been receiving submissions on the matter – and has so far hosted the petitioners and county officials.
Once it finalizes its public sittings, it will retreat to write a report that will later be submitted to the County Assembly for consideration.
