President Ruto abolishes Uhuru pet project Kazi Mtaani
Youths in Elburgon Town in Nakuru County during the Kazi Mtaani Initiative on July 14, 2022.
President William Ruto has announced an end to the ‘’Kazi Mtaani initiative’’ and indicated his administration will focus on the affordable housing program to create employment for the millions of unemployed youths in the country.
Speaking while launching the affordable housing project in Soweto, Kibera, Dr Ruto said the affordable housing programme will replace the Kazi Mtaani initiative which he said was outdated.
The programme will be replicated in every constituency in Nairobi and every county across the country.
“You have told me you want Kazi Mtaani back. Listen to me, Kazi Mtaani is a thing of the past. The work of collecting rubbish and other things, we have moved away from there. The work we will be doing is this one on affordable housing,” he said.
He has also said the government had an agreement with the contractors who will be undertaking the projects to provide employment priority to the local youth.
“I have told the contractor that the priority of employment is for the local people in this area. You used to be employed 500 people per ward in Kazi Mtaani. With this program, we will be employing 2,500 people. We will continue across Soweto C, Soweto D, etc. So the jobs you were asking for are already catered for. It is not only here. We will begin this construction in every constituency in Nairobi,” he added.
Brainchild
Kazi Mtaani is the brainchild of former President Uhuru Kenyatta.
The grand coalition government had a similar programme known as Kazi Kwa Vijana.
The Kazi Mtaani programme, launched in April 2020, was replicated across the 1,450 wards in the country to cushion the youth against the adverse effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.
During his campaigns, President William Ruto criticised the initiative arguing that it made the young people in the country lack the dignity that they deserve.
“The government is manipulating the young people. You have seen the Kazi Mtaani programme they launched. It is insulting to the youth in the country when the government sabotaged the programme of housing and value addition that would have given them a decent source of income. It has just been rolled out because we have an election coming up,” Dr Ruto said in June 2022 on NTV.
