CHAPTER NINE

HARNESSING THE POTENTIAL OF OUR YOUTH

The Challenges:

Kenya has a very large youth population and 60% of the entire population is below the age of 20 years.

The Kibaki Government has created a Ministry of Youth Affairs and established the Youth Enterprise Fund to enable young people access to micro-credit. This is a welcome start. But a lot more needs to be done in the area of providing education, training, employment, preventive health, and sporting facilities. Youths from the nomadic and pastoralist communities are hardest hit as they often lack formal education and are most marginalised. In any

case, the mere doling out of funds in an election year merely shows the incidental role the youth have played in the Kibaki Government.

Unemployment, especially among the youth, has been high and increasing in the last decade. Half of primary school leavers are unable to go to secondary school, so around 500,000 youth enter the labour market each year to compete for nonexistent jobs. The predicament of the youth in our economy is not simply a matter to be dealt with by introducing a youth fund; it needs a structural response at the level of providing new economic and political opportunities for the youth.

Kenyan political leaders from the colonial era who continue to cling to power today hold beliefs that are deeply entrenched in ethnicity, corruption and lack of accountability. They have exploited the youth as “leaders of tomorrow” while at the same time excluding them from the political processes. These political leaders are the worst kind of role-models and need to be rejected.

Youth unemployment and urban malaise remain political risks that need urgent attention.

We recognize the unique social, economic, cultural and health challenges facing young people in Kenya. These challenges go beyond education, employment or training. They require systemic overhaul.

Our Commitments:

We will involve the youth in developing a comprehensive national policy for the youth.

We will continue harnessing the limitless energies and talents of our youth.

We will work with the private sector to create jobs for the youth in a growing economy where the knowledge and skills of the youth will be progressively absorbed.

We will encourage the youth to engage in a voluntary national community service, such as, caring for the sick, aged and orphans.

We will provide more sports and recreational facilities for the youth.

We will promote greater youth participation in Kenyan political and cultural activities, thereby preserving culture and traditions for posterity.

We will promote a healthy lifestyle among the youth by campaigns, such as, ‘Say No to Drugs and Alcohol.’

Your ODM Government will:

• Revise the current National Youth Policy to make it more reflective of the youths’ aspirations and more responsive to their challenges. This will be done with full participation of the youth.

• Entrench the rights of young people in decisionmaking. They will have the opportunity to influence the decisions that affect them in education, health and employment.

• Review the role and efficiency of the Youth Enterprise Fund and ensure that the youth get business skills training.

• Introduce a new national youth leadership programme and integrate the youth in leadership today, not tomorrow.

• Establish Youth Vocational Training Centres to assist the youth in acquiring skills for gainful employment.

• Enhance career guidance and counseling services to meet the aspirations of the youth through the pilot Jobseekers Offices. Encourage the private sector and civil society organization to develop internship and apprenticeship programes to enable the youth to gain requisite experiences.

• Encourage greater awareness among the youth of the dangers of HIV/AIDS and sexually transmitted diseases.

• Address illiteracy among youth who never had the chance to go to school or dropped out.

• Address the concerns of the most vulnerable children, especially the street children.