Bogus recruitment firm now using pastors to reach jobless

A bogus recruitment company that was last year blacklisted for cheating thousands of job seekers has resurfaced in the labour market — this time using churches as its recruitment grounds, the Business Daily can now reveal.

East Africa Sub-Saharan Africa Safe Promotion International (SSASP International) has hired a large army of operatives who are mainly targeting unemployed Christian faithful in the churches.

The organisation has in recent weeks used church ministers to lure thousands of jobless people with the promise of lucrative job postings such as “special advisers” on education, health and security for “soon to be set up” county level offices of the organisation.

Applicants are asked to pay Sh1,000 registration fees besides the Sh5,000 charged for placements in non-existent jobs.

Successful candidates from the bogus interviews are being promised six figure salaries of up to Sh100,000 for menial jobs like drivers as well as positions lacking in clear designations such as “advisers” in various fields.

East Africa Sub-Saharan Africa Safe Promotion International officials were arrested last year and arraigned before the courts after they failed to prove the authenticity of their organisation.

They were at the time accused of illegally collecting money from unsuspecting Kenyans on the pretence that they would offer them lucrative jobs.

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Before it was busted, the organisation is believed to have collected hundreds of millions of shillings from thousands of jobless Kenyans promising them jobs.

The jobs scandal was so massive that thousands of job seekers who had been falsely recruited at one time thronged Nairobi’s Kasarani Stadium and filling it to capacity in pursuit of promised jobs.

Images of desperate Kenyans in the 60,000 seater stadium were beamed nationally after the job seekers turned chaotic on realising they had been duped of their hard earned cash.

Fresh recruitment

The organisation has now set up fresh recruitment centres across the country and is using churches to endorse its activities.

Last week, for instance, job applicants from outside Nairobi trooped to Nairobi’s Utawala Estate for a date with officials of the organisation who conducted quick “interviews” ahead of promised lucrative job placements.

The interviews were said to be taking place in other parts of the country.

The organisation had last Friday invited job seekers for a similar meeting in Nairobi’s Kayole Estate, giving KCB Kayole branch at Shujaa Mall as the location.

“Come with original ID and a copy, as well as the Kenya Revenue Authority PIN, NSSF and NHIF numbers. FAIL/BE LATE AT YOUR OWN RISK.”

Most of the applicants thronging the bogus recruitment centres are graduates from public and private universities.

“They have interviewed us and given us jobs according to our qualifications. We have are being promised salaries of between Sh40,000 to Sh70,000 depending on the job,” a young woman Law graduate from the University of Nairobi told Business Daily.

Another applicant, who identified himself as John, exuded optimism that he had finally landed a job as an “education adviser on curriculum” with the organisation.

The officials told John, who holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Education from the Kenyatta University, that he would be deployed in Nairobi County in yet to be identified location.

All the job applicants in the Utawala exercise were asked to open salary accounts with KCB Bank “to pave way for completion of the process.”

Most of the job seekers said they had learnt of the “job openings” from their pastors who announced the recruitment drives after the weekly Sunday sermons.

Use of churches and the clergy to publicise the recruitment drive marks a departure from public notices or advertisements in newspapers employed that the organisation employed last year.

Endorsement by sections of the clergy that wields enormous influence over Kenya’s Christian majority is seen as a smart ploy by the bogus agency to regain legitimacy and win the confidence of thousands of job seekers.

Besides, SSASP International is now claiming to have received government’s backing and to have obtained the necessary approvals to conduct the recruitment.

Authorities, however, denied the claim, stating that they were “puzzled” by the mysterious comeback of the organization.

“We arrested some of their senior officers last year, and they are currently in court, I don’t know why they are able to conduct activities again,” the NGO Co-ordination board executive director Fazul Mahamed said.

Mr Mahamed dismissed the claim that the organisation has been cleared to recruit people for jobs.

“They are not a registered entity and whatever they are doing is illegal. They are not even supposed to operate leave alone recruiting,” Mr Mahamed said as he warned the public against falling prey to the group’s activities.

“We will urge the public to be cautious especially when they are asked for money to be given employment. No genuine employer takes money from prospective employees,” he said.

The bogus organisation’s resurgence has raised fresh questions on the willingness of Kenyan authorities to protect citizens against predators such as bogus job recruiters.

Mr Mahamed insisted the NGO watchdog had engaged investigators at the Directorate of Criminal Investigations to tame the rogue organisation.

Hefty salaries

The Director of Criminal Investigations (DCI) Ndegwa Muhoro did not return calls nor respond to messages on the matter. By the time the jobseekers staged protests at Kasarani they had paid between Sh5,000 and Sh20,000 as registration fee.

Questions on the organisation’s authenticity initially emerged over the hefty salaries it promised as well as discrepancies in the job descriptions. A driver, for example, was offered a salary of Sh80,000.
Kenya’s unemployment rate stands at over 60 per cent according to some statistics forming a ready pool of vulnerable skilled and unskilled people.

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