Mercy Tarus Joins Victims Of First Choice Recruitment Scam: "We're Dealing With Cartels One By One"

• Mercy Tarus, the wonder girl from Uasin Gishu who held leaders to account over scholarships saga, wants to bolster other victims of supposed fraud
• First Choice Recruitment Agency is accused of fleecing jobseekers with dubious promises of jobs overseas
• Reacting to the issue, Tarus said it was time cartels perpetrating frauds in Eldoret got dealt with

Uasin Gishu county - Mercy Tarus has joined the victims of the First Choice Recruitment jobs scam in demanding justice.

Tarus, who shot to national fame for courageously putting to task Uasin Gishu county leadership over the Finland and Canada scholarships saga, observed that their native country was turning into a haven of frauds perpetrated by polished men and women.

First Choice is domiciled in Uasin Gishu's capital Eldoret where it is accused of fleecing unsuspecting jobseekers with dubious employment promises overseas.

Reacting to the issue, Tarus said it was time cartels perpetrating frauds in Eldoret got dealt with.

Tarus further accused the agency's boss Judy Jepchirchir of failing to take accountability by snubbing the summons by the Senate's standing committee on Labour and Social Welfare.

Judy was recently sent out of the Senate committee on Labour and Social Welfare after she declined to take back her recent remarks regarding the committee members.

While appearing before the committee, Judy, who was in the company of her legal team, was put to task over a letter she addressed to the committee accusing its members of bias.

The entrepreneur had accused the lawmakers of siding with the victims.

She was asked to rescind the contents of the letter but declined, and the committee sent her and her team out.

"If the respondent doesn't want to apologise we throw them out and we proceed with our meeting, the committee retreats and then write the report, it is that simple," said Senator Samson Cherargei of Nandi.

Judy had reportedly snubbed previous summons by the Upper House of the Senate.

First Choice Recruitment scandal

The Eldoret-based agency is accused of fleecing Kenyans with dubious promises of securing them jobs overseas.

It came to the limelight late last year after it failed to fly over 1,000 job hopefuls to Qatar, where they were to take up short-term jobs in the course of the World Cup.

The victims of the 'fraud' had paid all the fees and charges, and all that was left was for the agency to fly them to the West Asian country.

Following numerous plaints, the Senate summoned her to shed light on the matter.

The committee recently camped in Eldoret to listen to the plight of the victims.

One of the supposed fraud's victims recently shared his painful account of how he resigned from a well-paying job and bought suits on the promise that he would go to Qatar.

"I resigned from my well-paying job because I had been promised a better job in Qatar and I did all I could to secure it," the victim told the Senate committee.

He revealed that he secured some KSh 20,000 from his sister to buy suits and prepare for his travel.

"I remember that we had lost our dairy cow and so we had no milk back at home. World Cup came and went but still we never travelled," he recounted.

The man also claimed that when he confronted Judy, she told him that then-deputy president William Ruto had cautioned her against taking young people abroad for purposes of voting in last year's election.

"Judy claimed that Ruto asked her who would vote for him should he take all the youth abroad but I told her that we could still vote in the diaspora," he added.

Judy, in her defence, claimed in a recent interview that she was being targeted by envious politicians from Rift Valley, who she claimed are fueling her woes.

Judy the "untouchable"

Kenyans wondered why Judy was not being confronted despite the scandal hovering on her neck.

Some quarters on Twitter pointed to her powerful circles as why she is not being held to account as Uasin Gishu residents cry foul after losing money to her firm.

She is believed to be hobnobbing with the who is who both at grassroots and national levels, and this shields her, they say.