Thousands of young men and women from across Nairobi County turned up at State House on Saturday morning for an empowerment event hosted by President William Ruto, braving the chilly weather to take part in the programme.
The gathering brought together beneficiaries from 1,115 groups representing all 17 constituencies in the county. Each group received equipment tailored to their earlier requests, aimed at starting or boosting income-generating ventures.
Among the allocations, 380 groups received 380 tents and 38,000 chairs one tent and 100 chairs per group, while over 200 groups were given car wash stations. Another 120 groups got public address systems, 80 benefited from catering kits, and 63 groups received a total of 245 motorbikes.
Other distributed items included tailoring machines, salon and barber kits, juice vending machines, egg trolleys, pool tables, large format printers, street photography gear, and rickshaws. Forty-nine women’s groups were given 300 sewing machines, seven groups received wood-cutting machines, and six were issued with fully equipped posho mills. Additional beneficiaries walked away with industrial ovens, welding machines, and carpet cleaning equipment.
Entertainment for the day was provided by some of Nairobi’s top DJs and performers, including Bahati and Toxic Lyrikali.
Addressing the 15,000-strong crowd, President Ruto vowed that the empowerment programme would continue without interruption, despite criticism. He insisted the initiative was essential to boosting the economic independence of Kenyans.
“We want to tell those criticising empowerment that we have no plans to stop the initiative. In fact, we are expanding it to the wards across the country to reach more people,” he said.
The President revealed that, in partnership with the World Bank, the government would provide KSh50,000 each to 70 young people in every one of Kenya’s 1,450 wards, reaching a total of 100,000 beneficiaries.
“We are empowering 70 youths from each ward so that they can start small businesses in our effort to make them economically independent,” he stated.
He also defended the Hustler Fund, dismissing detractors as being out of touch with ordinary Kenyans’ realities. “These people are lecturing us from posh hotels and taking tea worth KSh1,000 a cup do not know the problems facing hustlers at the grassroots,” he remarked.
On political matters, Ruto dismissed threats of limiting him to a single term. “We will never succumb to the threats of one term by leaders who have no agenda for this country,” he said, emphasising that Kenyans hold the ultimate decision-making power.
He further pledged to maintain a broad-based government as a way of uniting the country. “I am committed to the transformation of this country. We must eliminate tribal hatred and divisive politics,” he affirmed.
The event was attended by Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja, Woman Representative Esther Passaris, MPs Beatrice Elachi, John Kiarie, Felix Odiwuor Jalang’o, Peter Orero, Mark Mwenje, Anthony Oluoch, George Aladwa, TJ Kajwang, Ronald Karauri, Tim Wanyonyi, nominated MPs Karen Nyamu and Tabitha Mutinda, along with MCAs from across the county.
