Our youth are not hecklers, goons for hire - DP Kindiki says

Deputy President Prof. Kithure Kindiki has said the culture of hiring youth to heckle political opponents must end, stressing that young people are a huge resource to advance the country’s development.

Prof. Kindiki said some opposition leaders are exploiting the youth for their own political interests including issuing them handouts to attack their rivals without offering them better sources of livelihoods.

“They give them 100 shillings to heckle their opponents in rallies. They are happy to incite them to attack their rivals. They pay them to insult their opponents on social media. They see them as voting machines. They have absolutely nothing to improve their lives. They are visionless and plan-less,” the DP noted.

He spoke on Wednesday at Alliance High Grounds, Kikuyu Constituency, Kiambu County when he graced the graduation of 1,880 young people who were sponsored by the Kikuyu NG-CDF for vocational training in various fields.

The youth acquired skills in masonry, electrical installation, plumbing, masonry, painting, welding, tiling, catering, cosmetology, barista, CNA caregiving among others, through the constituency’s fund whose patron is Kikuyu MP Kimani Ichungwah, who is also National Assembly Leader of Majority.

“We are totally different from them. We are empowering the young people through intentional and practical programmes. We are working hard to get them employed, to get a source of income for them so as to be important people of our country because it is the only way to ensure our country moves forward,” Prof. Kindiki stated.

Affirming the government’s commitment to creating more job opportunities through deliberate programmes, the DP said it is no longer tenable for visionless politicians to take advantage of the jobless youth to advance sinister motives.

“The time is up for politicians who only see young people as goons, hecklers, bloggers and voting machines. Going forward is about who has the better vision and plan for employment and job creation for our youth,” he added.

The Deputy President enumerated a number of programmes rolled out by the government since 2022 geared at employing youth and creating job opportunities both on the ground, online, locally and internationally.

The construction of affordable houses, modern markets and hostels has so far employed 550,000 with a target of 1 million by next year.

Those taken in are engineers, quantity surveyors, architects, electricians, masons, plumbers and others crucial for the success of the ongoing national programme.

The Kazi Mtandaoni programme has seen over 300, 000 youth get jobs online with a target of more beneficiaries this year. Meanwhile, the Kazi Majuu initiative has benefitted 540,000 youth who have flown out of the country for jobs overseas.

In the Education sector, 100, 000 teachers have been employed in the last three years. An additional 3,300 tutors have also been employed in Technical and Vocational Education Training Centres.

The TVET intake has gone up from 297,000 to 718,000 since 2022 owing to key policy interventions that have raised interest in the training centres.

This has been achieved through a significant increase to the Ministry of Education annual budget which has gone up from Ksh.500 billion in 2022 to Ksh.765 billion in 2026.

“We are working hard to ensure our young people get education and skills to be able to make a better living. Education without skills is not complete.

We have enhanced our support to the education sector. We have increased allocation for education, employed more teachers, improved infrastructure,” DP emphasized.

The round two of the NYOTA empowerment programme is also being finalized following massive success of the initial phase.

Present were Mr. Ichungwah, Gatundu North MP Njoroge Kururia, Thika Town MP Alice Ng’ang’a, Githunguri MP Gathoni Wamucomba, NGCDF Board Chairman Olago Aluoch, host of MCAs among others.