Government gets tough on interns

Government has said it will fire immediately all graduate interns who abscond without reason, saying the Ministry of Labour, Youth, Sports and Manpower Development has received reports of rampant absenteeism from work.

Secretary for the ministry Joseph Mwandidya says in a letter that work places should be reminded that it is an offence not to report whenever interns abscond work or when they quit work.

“Interns themselves should also be reminded that quitting work without prior notification to the employing authority as stipulated in the contract, is an offence,” says the letter in part.

Mwandidya als also says that any workplace which will be found to have not reported when interns do not come to work regularly and when they quit, will be considered an accomplice to the malpractice and will be asked to pay back the monthly allowance (stipend) for those who have quit without notification.

The letter also tells supervisors of the interns to provide them with work all the time.

“However, we have received reports that some interns are just loafing without anything to do. In some cases, interns have been absent from work for more than three days consecutively for no apparent reasons, and some have even quit work without informing the ministry…,” says the letter in part.

Mwandidya says in the letter that any intern who is absent from work for three days or more is considered to have absconded from work and their contracts should be terminated.