Ruto hands Kazi Mtaani youth employment lifeline
President William Ruto has now handed the youth previously employed under the Kazi Mtaani program an employment lifeline.
Speaking on Sunday at an interdenominational prayer service, the Head of State said the youth will instead be deployed to plant trees.
“All the youths that were employed under Kazi Mtaani will now plant trees. We need plenty of trees,” he pointed out.
President Ruto recently abolished the Kazi Mtaani program, an initiative that offered unemployed youth menial jobs in the estates.
The Head of State said the program was outdated and instead advised the youth to seek jobs at construction sites.
“I know you want to tell me about Kazi Mtaani but listen, Kazi Mtaani is a thing of the past. We have stopped this thing of collecting garbage. We want to build houses. The first cohort to be employed will be residents of Lang’ata and Kibra.”
Kazi Mtaani project was launched in April 2020 by former President Uhuru Kenyatta to cushion unemployed youth living in informal settlements from the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.
More than 280,000 youths from 1,100 informal settlements across the 47 counties benefited from the programme in its first and second phases.
The government had disbursed Sh1.3 billion for phase one, Sh2.4 billion, and Sh5.6 billion had been earmarked for phases two and three, respectively.
President Ruto has been keen on protecting and promoting the environment saying it is the only way to combat the adverse effects caused by climate change.
During the Mashujaa’s day celebrations, he asked Kenyans to plant 15 billion trees in the next 10 years, explaining that in order to reach the target every single Kenyan would be required to grow 300 trees.
“The objective is to grow 5 billion trees in the next 5 years, and an additional 10 billion trees by 2032,” he said echoing the same on Sunday.
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