President Ruto to the youth: I will make you drivers of European economies
President William Ruto on Tuesday, March 26, 2024, said his government’s war on alcoholism is irreversible and final, with no room for negotiation.
He said his desire is to see a country of focused, sober people who will in the future run the economies of Europe and Asia.
Speaking at Nyeri National Polytechnic during the Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) centenary celebrations, President Ruto said in the journey to make Kenya sober, he was sure that “no one would die from lack of alcohol, and should we find you dying, we will rush you to the hospital”.
He warned all bar owners who are taking his government to court because his government has closed down their bars that they are wasting their time.
The Head of State said it will not be business as usual “where when you go around our market centres, you find productive youths who can barely stand upright”.
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He said his government will not accept the continuation of a drinking nation “but we are committed to building a working nation”.
President Ruto said the war was about rescuing youths in their productive years from merchants of death who lure them into the culture of death that is drug abuse.
He said his government was “deliberately and intentionally creating opportunities in various sectors including the digital space”.
He urged those youths locked out of white-collar careers to embrace technical courses, “where my government is investing a lot of resources to make the training in the sector competent and attractive”.
Dr Ruto said technical courses are marketable across the spectrum of economic sectors, “and armed with a course, you will not lose out locally and abroad as we now have bilateral pacts with 19 countries to export human capital to them”.
He said his administration was keen to make human capital a premium export and urged the youths to take advantage of the government’s “deliberate push to put you on a progressive pedestal that knows no limits as long as you are focused”.