Murkomen spotlights multi-billion-shilling Eldoret job, land fraud
By Winstone Chiseremi, July 24, 2025Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen has cited rising cases of multibillion-shilling fraud related to land and overseas jobs in Eldoret as a serious concern.
Speaking in President William Ruto’s hometown on July 23, 2025, Murkomen said the government was determined to root out the problem.
He put the masterminds of the syndicates on notice, noting that they have caused untold pain and suffering to many families.
Jobs abroad
The hardest hit have been jobless youths who have been duped out of millions of shillings on promises of securing employment abroad.
“We have launched a major crackdown on those behind a series of overseas job scams and land-related fraud in Eldoret city and its environs. The police have been given instructions to arrest any person who will be found culpable, irrespective of their position or connection in the society,” warned Murkomen.
Murkomen said the government’s action follows outcry from parents, youths, and local investors over the surge in job and land fraud cases in the region.
“As a government, we will not sit and watch as parents lose their hard-earned money to the masterminds of overseas job scams under the guise of helping their desperate jobless youth secure employment abroad,” he added.
Several families in the North Rift are reeling with anger, frustration, and anguish after being conned out of money running into billions of shillings by recruitment agents who have set up shop in Eldoret.
Fake promises
The families were promised jobs for their unemployed sons and daughters in European and Arab countries, including positions as cashiers, housekeepers, and security guards.
However, only a few of those linked to the overseas job and land fraud scam have been arrested and arraigned in Eldoret courts since victims first appealed to the government to intervene three years ago.
Scores of victims, joined by members of the public, have recently brought business to a standstill in Eldoret through demonstrations while demanding the arrest and prosecution of those behind fake overseas recruitment programmes in the region.
The CS was accompanied by Immigration and Citizen Services Principal Secretary Belio Kipsang, Rift Valley Regional Commissioner Abdi Hassan, Deputy Inspector General of Police Gilbert Masengeli, and Uasin Gishu County Commissioner Eddyson Nyale.