Residents of Kivaa in Masinga, Machakos, are bitter because the majority of youth who applied for census jobs were left out.
Parents have vowed not to allow "anyone employed elsewhere" to come to their homes and count them.
Kithyoko resident Mama Mark wondered why a teacher should get the job yet he or she already employed. She said their children were ignored because of corruption.
“When we went to the relevant offices to inquire why our children who applied for the jobs were never shortlisted, the officials never bothered to answer us,” she said.
Mama Mark said residents do not know what method was used to pick census officials. She said the majority of the people selected are civil servants and the people who did not grease selectors' palms were left out.
Another parent Patrick Ngui said that only teachers were selected. He said locals have resolved that thyey would not be counted until the positions are re-advertised and the youth selected.
“If assistant chiefs will not repeat the recruitment, we will not allow teachers to come from school and count us yet our children are seated home jobless,” Patrick Ngui said.
Twenty-three-year-old Irene Mwende said she wasted her time in applying for the position of an enumerator because who was not shortlisted.
Mwende, a graduate, is jobless. She said while unemployment is rife among Kenyans the situation will not change if the government does not fight corruption.
Area MCA Justus Kiteng’u condemned is disappointed that a majority of young people are jobless yet priority was given to civil servants in the census jobs.
“Although everyone wants money, our youths should have been considered. I urge the officials in charge of the census exercise to at least be considerate of the youth. The majority of them are jobless yet they are graduates,” he said.
(Edited by P. Wanambisi)
