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College and university graduates will be assured of internship placements immediately after clearing their courses if a bill by Samburu West MP Naisula Lesuuda is given a green light by Parliament.

According to the Public Service Internship Act 2021, the state should take measures including affirmative action programmes to ensure that the youth have access to their earlier relevant education, training and employment.

Through the bill, Lesuuda seeks to have unemployed graduates with appropriate skills who require practical hands-on experience to improve their chances of employment by attaining internship opportunities in the Public Service Sector.

The bill also provides provision for training to graduates with professional qualifications who are required by their professional bodies to undertake internship as a pre-condition for registration.

“The bill seeks to ensure the provision of a monthly stipend, insurance and other entitlements to persons engaged in internships within the public service for the duration of internship programme,” the bill reads in part.

If the bill by Lesuuda successfully goes through the Parliamentary stages and is enacted into law, every intern engaged in the public service will be entitled to the provision of a monthly stipend, personal accident insurance cover, sick leave, maternity or paternity leave with subsistence allowance determined by the Cabinet Secretary.

While the bill dictates that the internship period will be determined by a person in charge of a public service institution, the period of training shall not go beyond twelve months.

The bill also states that an intern will have his/her training discontinued on the grounds of gross or disorderly misconduct, unsatisfactory performance or commission of a criminal offence.

“An intern may terminate internship by submitting a thirty days’ notice in writing to the person in charge of the public service institution,” the bill states.