At least 1000 candidates showed up at Ildamat Stadium in Kajiado for the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) recruitment exercise, but only 20 secured the available slots.
The majority of the witnesses termed the exercise as free and fair, as all sub-counties were given a fair chance.
Adan Kala, Senior Assistant Director of Southern Conservation Area KWS, and the recruitment team leader lauded the communities represented during the exercise for their cooperation throughout the process and the candidates who came in large numbers to try their luck.
“The exercise was well done; we are happy that the communities came early in large numbers; they collaborated with us; we divided the slots among all eight respective sub-counties in Kajiado, including Loitoktok, Kajiado North, Isinya, and others; we had at least two or three slots for each sub-county; and we were also considering areas which are impacted by wildlife, such as Loitoktok and areas neighbouring Nairobi National Park,” said Adan.
Adan added that, in an exercise that was highly competitive, they did a thorough verification process in a free and fair manner so as to get the best candidates.
He added that the best verification and recruitment exercise was carried out openly, where people from different communities had a chance to witness the whole process.
“We had close to 1000 candidates who came to look for this job.
We have done a lot of verifications; the candidates were willing to collaborate, and we have looked at their height and academic qualifications. Finally, they ran, and we recruited the winners. We have recruited three ladies and 17 men as potential rangers from all eight sub-counties to be trained at the Manayani Law Enforcement Academy KWS in May 2024,” added Adan.
One of the residents, Philip Ole Merian, revealed that he has attended many recruitment exercises, and based on his observations, this one was the most open, honest, and fair exercise he has experienced.
“This is not my first time to attend such exercise and among the many that I have attended, this one was very transparent. This is because the sub-counties were represented, and new sub-counties like Elangata Wuas, Kilonito and Oloyiankalani were given a chance to participate”, revealed Ole Merian.
Sipilon Timoi from Tolosei said that, she was really impressed by the whole process, not only because of how fair and free it was conducted but also because candidates from her area were considered. She narrated that, she comes from an area where they experience human-wildlife conflict; hence, recruiting one of their own will impact their community in a big way.
“Where I come from, each and every time we are conflicting with elephants, so now that one or two of our people have been considered, it is an added advantage to us as a community, who have faced human-wildlife conflict.
We will see the benefit when they are trained on how to handle and control them. The more we recruit, the more we solve the problem because they will be there to rescue the situation,” pointed Timoi.
During the latest National Youth Service (NYS) passout, President William Ruto promised that in every recruitment exercise, NYS will be given the first priority of at least 80%. This promise was witnessed at Kajiado during the KWS recruitment, where among the 20 successful candidates, 11 of them were from NYS.
By Seline Nyangere
