The Nyandarua county assembly on Tuesday adopted observations and recommendations of the executive on the county internship guidelines.
The internship policy was approved by the assembly in March but, through a letter dated July 1, 2019, county secretary Hiram Kahiro sent it back so the MCAs could consider the proposed changes.
The changes include the number of interns and their payment, qualifications, and how departments should be allocated slots.
Article 3.0 of the internship guidelines approved in March indicated that the County Human Resource Advisory Management Committee shall allocate the number of vacancies each department will absorb as interns and shall indicate areas of specialisation and the number of interns required.
It said the duration of internship shall be six months renewable once for a further six months where appropriate. The county secretary and head of Public Service Board shall declare the available vacancies to the County Public Service Board, which shall advertise to fill the positions.
The guidelines indicated that the county secretary and the CPSB shall coordinate the interviews and the placement of the interns, and the selected team shall be assigned duties and be supervised by chief officers.
The Article said the selected team will be notified by their chief officers or supervisors on the completion of the service one month prior to the exit date, and that each department shall not accommodate more than five interns at a time, except the Health Services and Public Works departments, which may accommodate more with the approval of the County Executive Committee.
The executive, however, noted that the county assembly resolution limited the number of internship opportunities in the county to 65. It recommended that the number be raised to 200 vacancies for degree, diploma and certificate holders. It drew a comparison to other counties, which offer internship slots to many students, citing Nyeri (250 ), Bomet (250), Uasin Gishu (700), Laikipia (150) and Baringo (372).
Article 4.0 (b) of the House Resolution indicated that the deputy director of Human Resource should pay a prescribed stipend to the interns. Degree holders would receive Sh20,000 monthly, Sh15,000 for diploma holders and Sh10,000 for certificate holders. He or she would further be required to verify internship vacancies and make quarterly reports to the board on internship programmes.
Previously, the initial guidelines as formulated by the executive prescribed that a degree holder and a diploma holder would get Sh10,000 and Sh8,000 respectively, while certificate holders were left out. This proposal was amended during a house plenary. On this, the executive observed that the Salaries and Remuneration Commission provides salaries for the new entry to Civil Service as Sh29,190 for degree holders, Sh15,670 for diploma and 13,280 for certificate holders.
The county executive recommended the pay for interns as Sh15,000 for degree holders, Sh12,000 for diploma holders and Sh10,000 for certificate holders, and drew comparison with Nyeri county, which pays Sh10,000 for both degree and diploma holders, and Uasin Gishu county, which pays Sh13,500 for degree holders, Sh11,000 for diploma and Sh8,500 for certificate holders.
The executive’s observations and recommendations were scrutinised by the assembly committee on Public Administration and ICT and their report tabled in the House for adoption.
In a motion moved by the Majority Chief Whip and deputy chairperson of the House Committee on Public Administration and ICT, Wangari Methu, the MCAs resolved that the number of interns should not be limited as this should be determined by budgetary allocations. They also resolved that fair distribution of interns across all departments must be observed.
The House approved the recommendations.
Stranger in the House
During the contribution to the motion, a nominated MCA got embarrassed after she was declared a stranger and told to leave the House for being inappropriately dressed just as she rose to contribute.
Salome Gathoni from Magumu in Kinangop had gone to the assembly dressed in blue jeans and a grey, black-hooded jumper.
Githioro MCA, Sambigi Mukuria, rising on a point of order, notified the House a ‘stranger’ was making contributions.
"Mr Speaker, is it in order for the nominated member from Magumu to come to this House in jeans and a jumper?" Mukuria asked.
Deputy speaker Zachary Njeru directed that Gathoni proceed as the clerkship checked the rules to confirm if she was properly dressed. Just as she began talking, Majority leader Edinald King’ori rose on another point of order and indicated that procedurally, the point of order raised by Mukuria ought to have been sufficiently addressed before the nominated member could proceed.
King’ori referred the House to the Speaker’s rules, which he said clearly defined the attire for legislators while in the House. Njeru then said it had been confirmed that Gathoni was inappropriately dressed, declared her a stranger and directed her to leave the House.
The other MCAs loudly thumped their feet as she hurriedly left bowing her head in shame. Students of Mumui Secondary School, Kipipiri, who had toured the county assembly giggled and talked in loud whispers from the public gallery.
In a text message to the Star, Gathoni said she was fully aware that she was not properly dressed even as she entered the chambers.
“I think you have no reason to intimidate me for any reason at all. This has happened to other members so I'm not exceptional," she said.
