Move on youth jobs good

President William Ruto has scrapped the Kazi Mtaani programme, launched by his predecessor President Uhuru Kenyatta in April 2020 to cushion the youth from the adverse effects of Covid-19.

He said instead of the menial jobs that young people did, mostly in low-income areas, his administration would have them engaged on much better terms under the low-cost housing programme.

The move is welcome. The affordable housing plan is expected to not only employ more than 2,500 youth in every constituency, up from 500, but it’s also economically sustainable.

The youth engaged under the plan also stand to gain on-the-job technical skills that they can transform into flourishing careers. 

Besides, the contractors retained by the government to actualise the plan are likely to absorb many of these young men and women into their workforces. What’s more, there are many unemployed youths who are qualified for decent construction-related jobs and who will find succour in the programme.

Perhaps the most laudable thing about the move is that it aligns the need to create jobs with the government’s development priorities—a major plank of which is helping low-income earners to own homes.

The ripple effect of the housing programme is that it will likely create many other quality jobs in the construction and manufacturing value chains. 

These benefits would obviously not have accrued from Kazi Mtaani, where young people were engaged in collecting rubbish, unclogging drainage and other maintenance work.

That said, the envisioned affordable housing programme must be prudently managed to unlock its immense socioeconomic potential.

The government must avoid the pitfalls of yore and let the programme ends up as an addition to the many white elephants that litter the country’s development history.