A lobby group protecting human rights has asked President William Ruto to disband the National Employment Authority (NEA) over integrity issues.

The group under the banner of Voice for the Voiceless petitioned President Ruto to move with speed and dissolve the agency on grounds that it was colluding with rogue employment agencies to fleece jobseekers.

 “We are calling for the sacking of Director-General Edith Okoki and the entire NEA board. The entire system at NEA has been working closely with rogue agencies who end up frustrating Kenyans while abroad,” reads a statement by the lobby group.

No response

The group says they have been writing to the various agencies to have the parastatal but they are yet to receive any response.

“We have written a number of letters to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) but no one seems to care about our concerns. We are telling President Ruto to take action as soon as possible, failure to which we will pitch camp at the headquarters,” the groups petition partly reads.

 They added; “It has come to our knowledge that over 500,000 youths’ dream of securing jobs abroad have been dimmed by NEA due to corruption and political interests. Many youths with visas cannot take up foreign jobs due to many bottlenecks brought about by the authority’s ineptitude, corruption and sabotage”.

When reached for comment, Okoki laughed off the allegations maintaining that she has been working closely with those who follow the law to the latter.

 “I don’t take bribes, my faith does not allow me to take bribes,” she said.  She said that Kenya is mainly targeting countries with a deficit of skilled workers such as the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Jordan, and Canada.