Ruto's youth employment agenda mired by cheap labour export, slavery

Cooperatives CS Wycliffe Oparanya addresses youth in Butere Constituency, Kakamega County. [Benard Lusigi, Standard]

President William Ruto has said that the National Youth Opportunities and Transformation Agenda (NYOTA) will uplift 820,000 young people.

In his State of the Nation Address, the President said said the jobs will come through apprenticeships, recognition of prior learning, entrepreneurship grants, digital skills training, and supported savings.

"When the programme is fully implemented, it will have placed 90,000 youth into work or enterprise, certified 20,000 into different skill areas, capitalized 110,000 businesses, matched savings of 190,000 savers, and built the capacity of 600,000 more to undertake government procurement," he said.

The programme comes amid concerns that the government was only interested in exporting cheap labour, exposing young people to poor labour conditions and abuse especially in the Gulf.

Early this year senators were shocked after learning that over 300 Kenyans were conned millions of shillings as they pursued jobs in the Middle East following a recruitment exercise that was commissioned by the Ministry of Labour last year.

Representatives of the job seekers who appeared before the Senate Labour Committee narrated how they paid out between Sh15,000 and Sh55,000.

Yesterday, Ruto was also full of praise for the Hustler Fund, which he said had extended over Sh80 billion to millions of Kenyans.

"Today, through the Hustler Fund Bridge Facility, 800,000 entrepreneurs are accessing up to Sh150,000 each, without collateral, to expand and grow their businesses, with seven million once-blacklisted Kenyans having since repaired their credit," said Ruto.

However, Data from the State Department for Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises released in September last year revealed that the default rate had surpassed 50 per cent, with Sh11 billion unpaid.

Yesterday, the President told parliament that through the Nairobi River Regeneration Programme, 44,000 youth are restoring the river corridor and preparing sites for 10,000 homes, having created over 428,000 jobs.

When he launched the programme in March, Ruto said it would cost of Sh50 billion and create 40,000 jobs up from 22,000 working under the Climate Works Mtaani Initiative.The project would include the construction of a 60km sewer line and 50,000 affordable houses on the reclaimed areas.

The President said that in the past three years, the digital transformation agenda has become one of the most powerful engines of renewal, a quiet revolution changing how Kenyans live, work, learn, and do business.

He said the government has expanded fibre network by 24,000 km and done 1,500 public WiFi hot spots, and set up 300 digital innovation hubs with 400 in the pipeline.