President William Ruto on Wednesday presided over the disbursement of Sh63 million in NYOTA Business Start-Up Capital grants to 2,520 young entrepreneurs drawn from all the 30 wards of Garissa County.
The event, held at the Garissa High School grounds, marked a significant step in the government’s push to economically empower young people under the Bottom-Up Economic Transformation Agenda.
President William Ruto has reiterated that he will continue championing government programmes aimed at creating jobs and business opportunities for Kenya’s youth.
The President noted that projects such as the National Youth Opportunities Towards Advancement (NYOTA) are changing the livelihoods of tens of thousands of young people across the country.
He castigated critics who have an issue with his close association with NYOTA, including its national roll-out, saying the move is intentional to ensure the project succeeds.
“I want to tell the people who are telling me to delegate matters to do with young people of Kenya to take their advice to somebody else. Matters of the youth of Kenya are of such importance that they deserve my personal attention,” he said on Wednesday.
The President made the remarks when he presided over the disbursement of Sh63 million NYOTA Business Start-Up Capital to 2,520 beneficiaries from Garissa County at Garissa High School grounds.
Present were Deputy President Kithure Kindiki, Garissa Governor Nathif Jama, Health Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale, Principal Secretaries, MPs, MCAs and other leaders.
In total, the President said the programme will disburse Sh375 million to 7,500 beneficiaries in Garissa, including 2,500 refugees living in the Dadaab Refugee Complex, alongside an extra 2,500 youth each from the host communities of Dadaab and Fafi constituencies.
He termed as visionless leaders questioning the NYOTA programme while offering no tangible solutions to problems facing the youth, saying job creation is central to his administration’s agenda.
“I have no regrets and no apologies whatsoever when I dedicate my time to engage with the youth in Kenya, whether in the NYOTA programme, labour mobility abroad, digital jobs or our housing, markets and hostels programme. They are worth my time,” he pointed out.
While noting that there have been projects similar to NYOTA before, he said they failed because they were poorly thought out and executed.
“I designed the NYOTA programme myself. Previous programmes were poorly designed, poorly delivered, and had minimal impact. The Cabinet and I took time to design NYOTA to eliminate corruption avenues, patronage, and ensure transparency and accountability,” he said.
President Ruto pointed out that after the conclusion of the national roll-out tomorrow in Wajir and Mandera, more than 123,000 young business people will have benefitted from the first phase of NYOTA, each receiving Sh50,000 grant to boost their businesses.
Through such projects, he explained, the government is onboarding the youth onto the country’s development agenda.
“Your destiny is important to me, to your parents, and to the Republic of Kenya,” he said.
