While Okech Kendo’s optimism about the ‘Kazi kwa Vijana’ initiative is admirable (The Standard of 19/03/09), you need to appreciate that optimism is a hard sell in Kenya today.
And this is not because one merely wishes to be a cynic. Kenyans have good reason to be sceptical of initiatives by a Government that is more adept at doing the wrong things than the opposite.
Take Vision 2030 for example. What real and deliberate steps are being taken to realise it? Political stability is a key plank, if not THE key, to achieving it.
Would you say that much is happening in this regard? Instead, we are seeing the return of hate speech from politicians of dubious repute like Kamukunji MP Simon Mbugua.
The insecurity you say this initiative will help reduce can only happen if Kenyans see, through word and deed, a keenness in fostering a just and equitable society.
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When politics stands in the way of saving a vital national resource like the Mau Forest, then we have reason to be cynical.
When John Githongo sounds like a prophet in the wilderness telling us to deal with the twin monsters that are ethnicity and inequality, we have reason to be cynical. When the President visits Gusiiland and leaves out Luo Nyanza, I say let’s be cynical.
I agree Kazi kwa Vijana is laudable, but if we do not deal honestly with bad governance that breeds all things evil, the road ahead will be as bumpy and rough as that from Nakuru to western Kenya.
Geoffrey Ruhiu, via e-mail
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Why should the Government hoodwink the youth into believing there is something like 300,000 jobs for them? This is as low as it gets in terms of promising heaven and delivering hell.
Here is why: The ‘jobs’ being given are of the lowest level imaginable; dig a trench here and move soil from that valley there. All for Sh250 a day.
One would have hoped the State would have come up with better paying jobs that could help the youth improve their lot substantially.
One such plan could have seen the National Youth Service transformed into a company. The company would them be awarded all tenders involving building of roads, dams, rail and buildings.
The State should know casual labour does not equate into jobs.
Nicholas O Ochieng, via e-mail
