The Director General however explained that this was not an excuse to allow them to continue in the service despite being tainted/FILE
NAIROBI, Kenya, Feb 19 – The National Youth Service (NYS) is currently conducting an internal investigation to determine how 2,238 recruits joined its ranks illegally.
In a statement, NYS Director General Richard Ndubai who admitted that they were provided with months of paramilitary training, described them as imposters and stated that the fraudulent methods used to gain access to the service were criminal.
He indicated that a probe into the incident revealed that these were not part of the 7,638 recruits who genuinely qualified to join vocational training programmes of NYS.
“In the year 2015, a total of 10,000 plus young men and women qualified to join NYS for the six months paramilitary training programme. Of those, 2,238 are total strangers to both the paramilitary training and the service that ideally should qualify them to join vocational training programs,” he stated.
He observed that this is a case of gross impropriety on the part of those who aided the recruitment and the beneficiaries.
There had been fears that the dishonorable discharge of the paramilitary trained recruits would make them resort to using their skills in crime.
The Director General however explained that this was not an excuse to allow them to continue in the service despite being tainted.
“To argue that since the 2,238 are already enrolled and they should be allowed to proceed with their training is formalizing impropriety and abetting in a manner that has all the hallmarks of a criminal enterprise,” he said.
He further stressed that it would go contrary to the reforms being undertaken at NYS.
“To ask that that the fraudulent beneficiaries be allowed to continue with the training in order to ensure they do not veer into criminal behavior at a time when NYS is undergoing a comprehensive cleanup is akin to chasing a rodent escaping from a burning house at the expense of saving the occupants and property therein,” he said.
He emphasized that nothing will stop the ongoing purge at NYS since Kenyans expect and deserve no less.
According to Ndubai 8,642 recruits passed out last year after satisfying the requirements of the NYS paramilitary training.
Out of these, it has emerged that 784 of those who passed out on December 19 last year at a ceremony presided over by President Uhuru Kenyatta had “not been admitted to any vocational training programme much as they qualified and therefore deserve to have been enrolled.”
It has also emerged that out of the over 10,000 recruits currently in the camps, only 7,638 went through the correct recruitment process carried out in May.
New recruits are only admitted to the Gilgil Camp after they produce a letter of admission which is counter-checked with government records and an original ID.
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