Protests led by victims of the First Choice airlift program scheme broke out in Eldoret on Thursday as demonstrators called for the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) to charge the main suspect in the case.
Speaking to the media, the protestors decried the ODPP’s refusal to hold Judy Chepchichir, the managing director of First Choice, accountable for her actions.
Referring to both Eldoret town and the Uasin Gishu County Government, the protestors claimed that looting and stealing from the vulnerable had become the order of the day as powerful people had become comfortable with the fact that they would not be brought to book.
“This has become a cartel’s paradise, Uasin Gishu. People are committing theft with impunity without fear or shame,” one of them said.
Police deployed in Nairobi on Thursday ahead of Nane Nane protests.
Photo
Alinur Mohammed
With placards disparaging the ODPP, they sought to finally achieve justice and eventually recover their lost fortunes.
“This is Eldoret City… The city of cartels. The fraudsters’ paradise, courtesy of ODPP.” One of the placards read.
The First Choice recruitment scandal caught the attention of Kenyans in August 2023 when the victims and their parents went before the Labour and Welfare Senate committee to narrate their predicament after being promised non-existent jobs abroad.
First Choice Consultancy and Recruitment Agency Ltd management was accused of charging up to Ksh250,000 for bogus jobs and scholarship opportunities in Qatar and other countries abroad.
Up until now, however, they have failed to reimburse the over 5000 Uasin Gishu youth conned in the exercise despite orders by the senate committee to do so.
“Less than 100 youth have received at least half of their money out of the more than 5,000 victims. However, since the report ordered for refund, nothing has been paid.” Kimutai Peris the man who file the petition before the senate says.
With almost Ksh1 billion paid to the agency and none yet to be refunded, the victims continue to pile pressure on the ODPP and DCI to intervene with no closure so far.
This is not the first time Uasin Gishu County is facing a similar scandal with its former Governor and current senator Mandagor currently facing a Finland Scholarship scandal of his own right now.
Governor Jackson Mandago reads the Bible during a funeral at Jakaiya in Uasin Gishu on March 9, 2021.
Photo
Jackson Mandago
