Labour Cabinet Secretary Alfred Mutua and Nominated Senator Gloria Orwoba yesterday clashed during a Senate meeting investigating allegations that thousands of youths have been conned millions of shillings in pursuit of fake promises of jobs abroad.

Mutua accused Orwoba of spreading misinformation about jobs abroad, alleging the youths have been conned because of personal interest in the matter.

On the other hand, Orwoba asked the Cabinet Secretary to table evidence to show the youths had received the jobs offer and not engaging in sideshows.

The Cabinet Secretary accused Orwoba of threatening to take him down and also for harassing staff in his ministry who do not act to her wishes since she has been acting as a recruitment agent and has been lying to Kenyans that thousands of Kenyan youths have been conned by the government.

“I have Senator Orwoba on record threatening to deal with me on the phone, stating that Kasongo is going down and she will not go down with him in reference to President William Ruto, which happened while I was in the presence of Cooperatives Cabinet Secretary Wycliffe Oparanya,” said Mutua.

Mutua told the Senate Labour Committee that he had already written a letter to the Senate Speaker Amason Kingi seeking to address the house on the matter of Labour mobility and also to demystify the accusation made by Orwoba against him and the ministry which were in bad test.

He accused Orwoba of engaging in activities not befitting her status as a state officer, alleging that she has been acting as a recruiting agent and lied that the Ministry of Labour is conning thousands of Kenyans after failing to get things done her way.

The Cabinet Secretary accused Orwoba of seeking to get political mileage out of the matter and challenged her to list job seekers who paid Sh 15,000 for medical checkup and did not travel, who have not been refunded their money, asking her to list the thousands of Kenyans who have been conned.

“We request Orwoba to table evidence of the citizens who have sought loans to travel abroad. She has been making demands and threatening staff in my ministry of being sacked. She has also been acting as a recruiting agent seeking to have 600 youths from Bobasi Constituency taken abroad,” said Mutua.

The Cabinet Secretary said it was wrong for anyone to say the ongoing programme has failed, with some of the countries appreciating and that those who have changed their minds can go back to the agents and get refunded but if they went for medical tests there is a cost element to be deducted.

Mutua said that he does not have a single record of anyone who paid and changed their mind and has been denied their funds instead, he has records of those who feel the programme has been delayed, and they have been informed what is happening and they were patient enough.

Orwoba said her interest in the inquiry through a statement was oversight as she approached National Employment Authority to have youths from Bobasi Constituency benefit from the programme, but instead they were among Kenyans who were conned.

 “I have been threatened with being kicked out as a Senator due to my resolve to champion the interests of thousands of youths who had been conned of millions of shillings in this government jobs programme. I am asking my detractors to bring it on,” said Orwoba.

The Nominated Senator said that if Mutua wanted youths who were conned in the foreign jobs syndicate to avail themselves, they would fill Kasarani Stadium and that he should be ready to explain why they have not gotten back their money after failing to secure jobs abroad.

Orwoba sought to know the agenda of the meeting on whether it was to discuss the letter Mutua had written to the Speaker or the matter at hand which was to investigate  how thousands of gullible Kenyan youths had lost their money through the job scam supported by the ministry.

The Committee, Chaired by West Pokot Senator Julius Murgor, said they will deal with the probe and not the letter written to the Speaker with the accusations against Orwoba being taken to the floor of the house as they deal with the matter at hand.

Embu Senator Alexander Mundigi said the committee needs to investigate to establish if it is Mutua or Orwoba who is stating the truth since the allegations being made are grave, concerning that thousands of youths need these jobs and need to know the truth.

Nominated Senator Betty Syengo said they cannot discuss the content of the letter since it is addressed to the Speaker and not the Senate Labour Committee, a position that was supported by Nominated Senator Miraj Abdullahi who said they should proceed with investigations.

Kisii Senator Richard Onyonka said that the matters raised by Mutua against Orwoba’s character needed a substantive motion to be discussed on the floor of the house since he was implying that she was not fit to be a Senator yet she had raised some substantive issues that required investigation.

Onyonka said he has more than 160 Kenyans in Yemen and Qatar who  have raised concerns about the manner they are being treated by recruitment agencies and that Mutua needed to come out clearly on what they are doing to ensure the safety of Kenyans while abroad.

Mutua said he was out to clarify issues since there were many lies being peddled around about the foreign jobs and that he has been cleaning up the system to ensure that innocent Kenyans were not conned since assuming office and it was unfair for anyone to associate him with crime.

He alleged that Orwoba approached the Ministry of Labour to seek opportunities for youths in Bobasi abroad and later argued there were some untruths and a lack of transparency, and that by the time Orwoba was asking questions, those who did not get jobs had been refunded minus the medical fees.

 “I have never engaged in private recruitment exercise. You can accuse me of anything but never about corruption, I have been very straightforward, you can never accuse me of laziness since I work around the clock to get jobs for the youths. I am very loyal to the government of the day, and whenever I am not comfortable, I walk out,” said Mutua.