Public Service Cabinet Secretary Geofrey Ruku has announced a new merit-based digital recruitment system for public service jobs to promote fairness and transparency. Speaking in Yatta, Machakos County, on April 21, he said the technology will automatically verify documents and assess candidates with minimal human interference.
Public Service Cabinet Secretary Geofrey Ruku announced plans for a merit-based digital recruitment system during the distribution of relief food in Yatta, Machakos County, on Tuesday, April 21.
He stated that the technology will minimize human interference in hiring and address long-standing complaints about favoritism in public sector jobs. "We must use technology to do recruitment so that all the recruitment in Kenya can be fair, transparent and equitable," Ruku said.
"We will make sure that we have a recruitment technology where if you upload your documents and answer questions, it will be automatically known who deserves to be hired by the government agency that is hiring," he added. The system will automatically verify documents and assess candidates to base decisions strictly on merit.
"There won't be issues where a qualified Kenyan with the required experience has to seek employment from people in government. It will ensure that there is minimal human interaction when it comes to the recruitment of human resources in government," he further said.
Members of the public welcomed the announcement. "Taking this recruitment process online will be good because it will be balanced across all sectors, whereas before, you were being employed depending on who you knew at the service," stated a Machakos resident. The move aligns with ongoing digitization of government services, including recent AI monitoring of employee conduct and a shift to contract-based employment.