It should now be made compulsory for the performance of all candidates subjected to interviews for public sector jobs to be made public.
Since most of the interviews are conducted in public, outcomes of such processes ought to be made public too. This will bolster public confidence and enhance transparency.
In the recent past President William Ruto has been on the receiving end for allegedly favouring his tribesmen in State job appointments, a situation that is not being helped either by the public being denied details on how some candidates from his backyard end up being picked at the expense of many others.
Were details and grading methods used in selecting the candidates made public, regardless of their tribes, Kenyans accusing the Ruto-administration of Kalenjinising the public service won't have grounds to point fingers.
Of late, social media has been awash with details of who has been dropped and who has replaced them, embellished with unfounded allegations.
Were deliberations on candidates' performance during those closed-door interviews shared freely, we will all agree that meritocracy reigned and not external influence.
Making public only the names the winning candidates ends up denying the recruitment process the transparency its desires to achieve.
It is also advisable that boards of management be barred from conducting interviews to fill positions left vacant in the same organisations they serve.
Board members
Chances are high that due to regular interaction and familiarity with the serving top managers, the board members would give preference to given individuals within the establishment.
The board members, knowing the serving managers well, are likely to collude and give promotion to a friendly individual but a poor manager. Let those serving in such establishments compete with external but qualified Kenyans.
We must review the public interview guidelines and make it mandatory that they be conducted by independent professional bodies for the sake of fairness.
In addition, some things during the recruitment process need be checked. Why, for instance, shortlist l00 applicants while seeking to fill only one vacancy?
In some cases, candidates are accorded a mere a five-minute interaction session with the panellists and one wonders at what point he or she proves the competence or incompetence of a candidate during such a brief session.
Most job seekers in Kenya today will tell you that they attend the interviews as a formality. They are convinced that some amongst them are favoured and are only awaiting appointment.
Inviting a few candidates to interviews will save time for the panellists and unnecessary expenses to the big number of candidates invited for public relations gimmicks.
-Mr Omanga is a media practitioner. Omanga4@gmail.com
