KISIMU, KENYA – WILLIAM ODENGE
Early in the morning today, I met a group of young boys in Obunga Slum complaining bitterly about the Kazi Kwa Vijana initiative -the youth employment programme that was launched by the Government in March this year after it promised to facilitate the creation of opportunities to enable our youth to be gainfully employed and to earn a decent livelihood. The job supervisor had decided to take bribes from these young people so as to secure them a place.
This shows a need for the government to streamline the Kazi kwa Vijana initiative which is a noble idea intended to keep jobless youth busy because it targets young people who are given first priority in working on projects such as building or repairing infrastructure and public amenities around the areas they live. The aim of this programme is to stem the social ills brought about by unemployment, idleness and poverty.
However, if not carefully implemented, it may in the long run aggravate the same problems it is trying to solve. Corruption which is our country’s major problem is slowly creeping into this intervention. First, it would be prudent to define minimum and maximum age limits of the target group, bearing in mind unemployment and poverty affect everyone. Second, since these jobs are temporary, how will the youth be engaged in-between projects? Third, these projects might disadvantage females because they are labour intensive. Fourth, a feeling of entitlement could also creep into these groups and they may start demanding employment as a right regardless of whether they have the technical expertise. Fifth, how will projects passing through different areas, such as road construction, be handled? Will contractors be required to employ fresh labour every time they come to a new region?
As poverty entrenches itself deeper in the country, the youth are the worst casualties. If you visit many homes in Kisumu, you are likely to come across young people barely in their twenties supporting their families. This is mostly in the form of ‘hustling’ for a meal for themselves and their siblings. In these instances, parents have abdicated their responsibilities. Thus, the youth have no one to turn to for assistance.
Consequently, in a bid to forget their tribulations, many have embraced the use of hard drugs. We should not be surprised that these young men and women decided to torch the country after the disputed 2007 presidential elections. This is the typical reaction of disillusioned youth who exhibit poor judgement skills and consider burning and pillaging a worthwhile cause.
For a long time now, the young have been short-changed by politicians. Knowing they command numbers, many of the politicians have ascended into power using the hackneyed phrase of “putting the youth agenda at the top of their list if elected into office”. When politicians ascend to power, they only engage in party politics instead of helping their supporters set up money-generating projects. It is now getting clearer that the youth in Kisumu have started to refuse to be divided along partisan, tribal lines when they are all facing the same challenges. They say they don’t want a repeat of the 2008 violence. This makes them very cautious even with the raging debates in the country that might spark some violence.
For example the TJRC. In real sense the Truth Justice and Reconciliation Commission (TJRC) commissioners were sworn in last week. The cabinet decided to have the TJRC try the post-election violence suspects. These young boys from Obunga are wondering how credible a judicial solution will be established to punish the masterminds of post-election violence.
Indeed, TJRC as transitional justice mechanisms has failed in other African countries because more often than not they have been abused as political tools to buy time. They are also concerned that substantive discussions about the design, expectations and the deliverables by the TJRC could be lost in the din of this raging debate. Granted, the conditions must be right for the TJRC to be a success, but undoubtedly the perception that the commission could be a talking shop to entrench impunity does not help that cause. However, the boys agree that one of the greatest contributions of the TJRC is that it creates space for victims to publicly tell their stories in a manner that brings relief. They add that the idea of compensation could be an overriding motivation.
Out of this raging issue, the boys are crying out for leadership. To them, the following issues raise concern.
Integration and Cohesion: The country is still divided along ethnic, social and political lines. It is regrettable that today, political leaders are not playing their role of giving leadership to efforts aimed at promoting national cohesion and integration. The National Cohesion and Integration Act be implemented fully.
Famine: It is regrettable and saddening that after four decades of independence, the government is still unable to put in place policies and mechanisms to safeguard the supply of food for Kenyans. Hunger in Kenya has less to do with drought and more to do with lack of leadership since it is man made and orchestrated for personal gain. How sad it is to know that there are people who are profiting from the suffering of Kenyans? Urgent measures to remedy this are required.
Displaced Persons: There is still concern that after more than one year after the post election violence, thousands of Kenyans remain in internally displaced persons camps. Is the government serious about resettlement?
Government spending: The coalition government is burdensome rather than facilitative. Ministers spend their time quarrelling about peripheral issues rather than undertaking their duties. In this understanding, the admission that the government has no resources for development is grave for the nation. Why should a government that is cutting down on development spending continue to spend so much money to finance a bloated and non-performing cabinet? The government should get its priorities right.
Creation of Jobs: Appreciating that unemployment among the youth is so grave as to cause a crisis in the country, they were taking a keen look at the government’s initiative to youth unemployment. However, the government has done commendable effort and is urged that the initiative be up scaled to match the magnitude of unemployment in the country.
Constitution Review: There is great merit in fast tracking the constitution review process. They called on Kenyans to rise up and demand that they regain the leadership of the process from the Parliament. Furthermore, they urged that the constitution review process be accompanied by extensive civic education implemented by civil society actors to ensure that consensus is reached widely on the contentious issues. It is now incumbent upon the Office of the President and he Prime Minister to ensure that all government efforts or exercises are devoid of corruption, nepotism and tribalism.
