Samburu West Member of Parliament Naisula Lesuuda has proposed a Bill to ensure that interns in the public service receive compulsory salary and leave days.
While moving the Public Service Internship Bill before the National Assembly, Lesuuda stressed the need to have a legal framework focused on addressing the plight of interns in the country.
The MP also said that she received suggestions to include the private sector and ensure that interns are treated with dignity.
However, the Lesuuda said that she also received concerns that the move would likely lead to private companies denying the youth internship opportunities.
“We need to think through it well so that we can engage the private sector on how they can engage the interns and ensure that they are treated with dignity, they are given some stipend.
“We also need to think about it in terms of giving incentives to the private sector so that they can be encouraged or actually consider it,” she said.
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Lesuuda on Government Offering Companies Incentives
At the same time, Lesuuda proposed that the government offers companies in the private sector incentives to allow them to issue stipends to the interns.
This, she noted, will ensure that the interns get the opportunity to learn while still respected and protected.
“There were arguments that if we ask private institutions to give a remuneration to interns that they may decide to not give them the opportunity to learn, and they might not be able to engage interns.
“But that is not the intention, we can look at some of the incentives that we can give the private sector so that they can engage interns and they can also pay them a stipend just as the public service is doing,” she explained.
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Details of the Internship Bill
The Bill seeks to regulate internship programs for college and university graduates within the public service. According to the MP, interns contribute to the manpower of the organization by offering their professional skills as apprentices.
In addition to the stipends, Lesuuda wants interns engaged in the public service to be entitled to sick leave and maternity or paternity leave for the period of their attachment, which should not exceed 12 months.
Furthermore, if passed, the bill will apply to unemployed graduates with appropriate skills who require practical hands-on experience, or graduates with professional qualifications who are required by the professional bodies to undertake internship as a precondition for registration.
Also, it will apply to any person who has successfully completed a course of training under the Technical and Vocational Training Act.
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