Retire the old guard, deputy governors tell Government

Deputy governors want the national government to stop appointing the old guard to State jobs at the expense of youths.

Deputy Governors Forum chairman and Laikipia Deputy Governor John Mwaniki wondered when youths would ever benefit, adding that they had the necessary qualifications to hold such positions.

"The old guard should be mentoring youths to take over but what we are seeing is a selective recycling and shifting from one job to another," Mr Mwaniki said.

The leaders were speaking during a thanksgiving service for Deputy Governor Peter Ndambiri at the Christian Revival Church, Kanjinji, in Mwea over the weekend.

Mwaniki said there were State appointees who had been in office "since independence" and questioned whether they had a monopoly of the skills required to hold such positions.

Unemployed youths

Forum vice chairperson and Nandi Deputy Governor Ulita Cheruiyot raised concerns over the use of unemployed youths by politicians during election campaigns only for the leaders to dump them later.

Ms Cheruiyot said the time had come to slay the dragon of corruption and castigated its perpetrators for impoverishing innocent Kenyans.

“The rot in our nation must be cleansed at all costs to enable the country to move forward as we address the huge unemployment gap that has reached alarming proportions."

Cheruiyot also recalled the 2007-2008 and 2017 post-election violence brought about by unfair political competition that left many dead, hundreds injured and property worth millions destroyed, with youths the worst affected.

“All the violence witnessed in our country is a clear manifestation of the rot within us. The time for a paradigm shift is now if we are serious about shaping youths to take over," she said.