MPs save firms from paying interns, footing health bills

Cabinet Secretary for Public Service, Aisha Jumwa leaving Continental House, Nairobi County on April 25, 2023, after appearing before National Committee on Labour. PHOTO | DENNIS ONSONGO | NMG

Employers have been spared from mandatory hiring and paying of interns and offering them insurance after a Parliamentary committee thwarted a push by the Cabinet Secretary for Public Service Aisha Jumwa.

The National Assembly Committee on Labour rejected the proposal saying the private sector is already reeling from the high costs of business and making it compulsory to hire and pay interns will further hit them financially.

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Ms Jumwa had proposed changes to the Public Service Internship Bill, 2022 in what could have seen the private sector join Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) in giving pay to internships of at least six months, provide medical cover and leave days to university and college graduates.

The private sector is largely grappling with rising costs in the form of increased taxes and stagnated or dwindling revenues, factors that are prompting a shift to hiring staff on contracts in a bid to cut costs such as pensions.

“Compelling the private sector to take on interns and perhaps employing them permanently would create a financial burden to companies trying to stay afloat as the numbers may be unsustainable,” the committee said in its report on the Bill.

The law does not currently compel the private sector to hire and pay interns in addition to providing medical cover and other perks.

Besides stagnated sales and high costs of operations, the private sector is also bracing for tougher times ahead in the wake of high fuel costs and new tax measures such as housing levy.

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The committee approved the Bill, setting the stage for its adoption by lawmakers in a move that looks set to change the fortunes of university and college graduates in an economy struggling to create jobs.

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