Some graduates recruited under the much touted 2023-2024 Graduate Internship Programme (GIP) are yet to report for duties almost three weeks after the release of names admitted into the 8th cohort of the programme.

The successful candidates, according to a statement from Ministry of Labour dated May 25, 2023 signed by its Principal Secretary Wezi Kayira, were supposed to report for duties at their allocated duty stations on June 1, 2023.

However, the publication has established that some graduates who were deployed in some selected government departments and district councils are yet to report for duties despite their contracts starting on June 1.

One of the successful graduates who opted for anonymity said: “We just signed contract(s) and GP1 forms; and they said they will call us; to our surprise days are passing without any communication.”

The concerned graduate who ‘feels cheated and betrayed’ by the government added: “Kapena akufuna ayikepo abale awo tu, nanga kungoti zii…tifunsireni kubomako chonde, (maybe they want to replace our names with their relatives)”

Meanwhile, there is no immediate comment or reaction from the custodian of the program the Ministry of labour and government spokesperson on the concerns raised by the candidates.

GIP, a brainchild of former governing Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), is a government initiative which provides work-integrated experience to graduates under the age of 35 in order to improve their employability.

Every year, youth graduates who are not working are allocated to various government Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) to work as interns; as of today a good number of  graduates have been engaged into the programme in 7 different cohorts.

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