At the onset of COVID -19 pandemic in Kenya, the government piloted an expanded public works program in eight counties most affected by the disease. This was a big illustration of the welfarist tendencies of most responsible governments’, which keeps working to address emerging issues which may not even have been budgeted to that magnitude. The program activities involved street sweeping and cleaning, drainage unclogging and cleaning, fumigation and bush clearing. The program has since been expanded to cover all the counties, in addition to increasing the scope of the program to long lasting or legacy projects. The program main target is the youths, which is a right move because statistics show that the median age in Africa is 19.2 years.
Youths are predominantly employed in agriculture and informal sectors, which have high incidences of under-employment, made worse by the bulging youth demographic. Youth unemployment poses economic, social, moral and policy dilemmas for countries including Kenya. By implementing the Kazi Mtaani programme, the government has shown its continued commitment to address the youth unemployment challenges, in addition to other initiatives like more emphasis on technical and vocational training, provision of loans for higher education, increasing profitability for agriculture, enhanced funding of medium and small enterprises and increased business opportunities for youth and women through AGPO regimes.
For the Kazi Mtaani program and other initiatives to be sustainable in tackling youth unemployment, stakeholders must support the government in practical actions. This can be done by Kenyans and corporates injecting more funding, more capacity building initiatives, mentorship, provision of equipment’s even for personal business and above all, leaders should encourage the youths to take such initiatives as a stepping stone for greater prosperity.
We must be guided by the words of former US president, JF Kennedy that “Ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country”. We must seek to address youth unemployment for a sustainable country.
Dr. Daniel Mutegi Giti 