Uhuru chairs third cabinet meeting, approve raft of proposals

President Uhuru Kenyatta has a word with Lands CS Faridah Karoney after chairing a cabinet meeting at State House in Nairobi. [Standard]

The Cabinet has approved a raft of measures as the Government moves to restore sanity at the National Youth Service (NYS) that has been rocked by corruption.

The measures include a proposal to establish an oversight board which will effectively make the controversial NYS managed like a corporate body and headed by a chief executive as opposed to a director general.

During a Cabinet meeting chaired by President Uhuru Kenyatta yesterday, it was also agreed that the supply chain at NYS must be cleaned-up.

There is also need for reforms in the management of the budget and auditing of accounts, the meeting resolved. 

“The proposed restructuring of the NYS will help to deal with the serious managerial and operational challenges that have been reported at the institution in the recent past,” read the communication from the Cabinet Office.

This comes just days after President Kenyatta’s nominee for the position Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Public Service and Youths Francis Otieno Owino spelled out a series of changes to address corruption at NYS.

Dr Owino said he will introduce a decentralisation model of procurement.

Procurement challenges

He said the model is borrowed from Kenya Police Service, Kenya Prisons and the National Government and if adopted, will sort out challenges about procurement.

Owino said this will help address the widespread corruption that has dogged NYS and help deflate pressure from the head office.

He also promised to issue Authority to Incur Expenditure (AIE) to field station commanders once he assumes office. The drastic changes, he said, will sort out corruption and allow NYS to deliver on its mandate.

The meeting also approved a proposed legislation and policy changes geared towards addressing the challenges faced by county governments, regarding revenue collection and assisting them to optimise their own sources revenue.

The two are National Policy to Support Enhancement of County Governments’ Own-Source Revenue and the County Governments’ (Revenue Raising Process) Bill, 2018.

Also disused was proposed Government-sponsored bills include Nuclear Regulatory Bill, 2017 which seeks to repeal the Radiation Protection Act.

Several people have already charged over corruption at NYS.