KRA accused of duping its Revenue School students

By M&M Reporter

Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) is finding itself in the eye of a storm after graduates from its School of Revenue accused it of ripping them off with false job guarantees.

2018 graduates from the Kenya School of Revenue Administration (KESRA) post graduate program lamented that KRA had deliberately left them out of the recent recruitment drive for customs officers after luring them to spend Sh27.2 million in the school on account of jobs promises from the authority.

The post graduate program is held in collaboration with Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT).

Sources familiar with the ongoing recruitment process divulged to this news site that the recruitment drive is aimed at increasing the number of customs officials by employment of another 150 new officers.

According to students who talked to us said KRA officials had given an undertaking that all students from KESRA would be given priority in job opportunities at the authority upon graduating.

But the story changed after shortlisting in the recruitment drive that started in February 2019, with authorities informing students that were not shortlisted that graduating from KESRA was “just an added advantage,” and that the authority wished them luck in their future endeavours.

69 students graduated in 2018 which essentially means that KRA would only need another 81 recruits outside KESRA graduates for the year to fill up the 150 vacant positions.

“KRA took advantage of us. We have sacrificed our time and finances based on the honest belief that the authority would keep its word on absorbing us,” said one of the graduates who sort anonymity.

The nine month course work for the post graduate diploma in Customs Administration costs a self sponsored student Sh170, 000. This does not include, transport, projects and other miscellaneous costs.

Another graduate said on further enquiry, she was told the failure to shortlist them was a result of a “computer error.”

“But this computer error explanation does not add up,KRA has a complete list of all the KESRA graduates for 2018 as well as the applicants resumes which they would have checked if their computer systems were faulty,” said the student who did not want to named for fear of victimization in future job applications at the authority.

Before 2016, KRA used to recruit university graduates. The graduates would then be sent to KESRA Mombasa Campus at KRA’s cost where they would be trained on the authorities operations.

However, in 2016, the authority started the self sponsored program with the solid guarantee that graduates willing to take up employment would be absorbed by the authority.

Incidentally, our sources at the authority revealed that most of those recruited in the February drive are fresh university graduates who would require to be trained at KESRA at KRA’s cost beating the logic of setting up the self sponsored program where they have trained students that the authority does not want to employ.

The turn of events in the recruitment process raises the question of whether the authority has faith in the quality of the training in its own self sponsored program or the program is just another money minting venture for the authority and JKUAT.