Former Attorney General Justin Muturi, on Friday, February 6, disclosed that the Nyota Project was the brainchild of Former President Uhuru Kenyatta.
Speaking during the burial ceremony of ex-MP Jamleck Kamau’s mother in Muranga, Muturi claimed that the programme was approved by Uhuru’s Cabinet.
He bashed President William Ruto for taking credit for the project, which was not even in his campaign plan in 2022.
Muturi stated that Fred Matiang’i could assert his claims since he was the chairperson of the Cabinet Sub-committees at the time.
“Even if you ask Riggy G, Nyota was not in their manifesto because it was a project started by Uhuru Kenyatta. It was a negotiation already happening with the World Bank, and Mtiang’i can confirm that,” Muturi stated.
Muturi delved deeper to disclose that the Nyota programme was first proposed by Ababau Namwamba, Kenya’s High Commissioner to Uganda.
He mocked the Head of State for not only taking ownership of the project, but also making a fuss out of the disbursement of money to youths.
“Now it has become a spectacle filled with dance and drama. It is something that can be done by the Cabinet Secretary for MSMEs and not the President,” the former AG remarked.
President Ruto corroborated part of the claims by Muturi during the Nyota Fund Credit Distribution programme in Mombasa County.
“The NYOTA money is not a loan but a grant to the recipients. The government took a loan from the World Bank to facilitate the programme, which we will pay,” Ruto stated.
According to documents made available on the World Bank’s website, it approved the National Youth Towards Advancement (NYOTA) programme in January 2023.
It is a bank-approved loan worth USD200 million, an equivalent of Ksh25.8 billion, with a commitment of USD229 million or Ksh29.5 billion.
The project is scheduled to run between June 2024 and December 2028 and is to be implemented by the Micro and Small Enterprise Authority, Ministry of Youth Affairs, The Arts and Sports (MYAAS), National Social Security Fund.
The fund is a scale-up of the Kenya Youth Employment and Opportunities Program (KYEOP) and addresses demand and intermediation of constraints faced by vulnerable youth.
“The project will be implemented nationally in all the 47 counties, it will focus to increase employment, earnings opportunities, and savings among targeted youth through integrated interventions on skills development, self-employment, entrepreneurship, and savings,” the documents read in part.
