HOAX: Kazi Mtaani program is not recruiting 18,000 youth in Kenya
The State Department of Housing has disowned the claim.
This Facebook post claiming that the government is recruiting 18,000 youth under the Kazi Mtaani program across Kenya’s 47 counties is a HOAX.
Kazi Mtaani is a national initiative launched in April 2020 to cushion the most vulnerable people from the impacts of COVID-19, beginning as a pilot program in select informal settlements across eight counties, including Nairobi, Mombasa, and Kisumu.
“Over 18,000 Kazi mtaani jobs advertised by the national government… Minimum of Form 4 certificate is required. Click here to apply before deadline ????????https://www.bit.ly/kazimtaani-co-ke,” reads the post.
The post leads potential applicants to a Google form which informs candidates that they must be a resident of the constituency they wish to work in. Additionally, it notes that one must be physically fit, have good communication skills, and be ready to pay a Ksh300 NSSF facilitation fee via a provided account number or through M-PESA Till Number for their job application to be processed.
The claim was also shared here and here.
To confirm the authenticity of the claim, Maudhui House contacted Charles Hinga, the Principal Secretary State Department for Housing and Urban Development who denounced the said posts, terming them “fake.”
In his statement, Mr Hinga clarified that, “if and when any recruitment shall be done it shall follow an official communication.”
To add on, the National Youth Council, an entity that has been set up by the national government through an Act of Parliament of 2009 to champion the interests of the youth in Kenya also denounced the purported job advertisement, terming it “Fake News Alert” in a post on its official Facebook page.
Maudhui House examined a post on Facebook on purported Kazi Mtaani job recruitment exercise seeking to hire 18,000 youth in Kenya and found it to be a HOAX.
This fact-check was published by Maudhui House with support from Code for Africa’s PesaCheck and African Fact-Checking Alliance.
