US link to youth activities unveiled

By Stephen Makabila
The National Youth Forum (NYF), which aims at breaking new ground for Kenyan youth aspirations, was moulded from scratch by the US through its Nairobi embassy office and enjoys un-rivaled attention from Washington.
The six NYF Co-Conveners are drawn from all corners of the country. They include George Nyongesa (Bunge la Mwananchi), Caroline Ruto (Smart Citizens), Halima Mohamed (Coast Education Centre), Joshua Nyamori (Nyanza Youth Coalition), Hassan Ole Naado (Kenya Muslim Youth Alliance), Ngacha Njeri (Nyeri Social Forum) and George Thuranira (Meru Youth Network).
In an exclusive interview with The Standard by one of the Co-Conveners, George Nyongesa, laid bare the systematic role the US Government has been playing in sustaining the group.
"Not all the six of us knew each other. We met at the US embassy for the first time after having been invited there," said Nyongesa.
It was in 2008 when the US embassy identified through its networks the six co-conveners and called them together.
"We were told by Ambassador Michael Ranneberger that we had been identified as young leaders who can bring change in Kenya and the US wanted to work with us. We were given resources to hold inter-ethnic community dialogues across the country," Nyongesa said.
In November 2009, after going round the country, the six put together the 1st National Youth Forum conference at the Kenyatta International Conference Centre (KICC). Ranneberger addressed the conference.
Come December 2009 and the six travelled to the US for a familiarisation tour, where they met several Congress leaders.
In February 2010, the six had a teleconference for ten minutes with US President Barack Obama from the US embassy in Nairobi.
"Obama told us he was interested in supporting our efforts to bring better leadership to Kenya. He said he was personally paying attention to our grassroots activities," added Nyongesa.
President Kibaki and Prime Raila pointed accusing fingers at the US, for allegedly using youths to undermine the Government during the Jamhuri celebrations at the Nyayo National Stadium on December 12, 2010.
Ranneberger has since dismissed this claims and Nyongesa agrees with him.
Special team"We have no intention of fighting the Government, but we have intentions of mobilising the youth to contest for the country’s leadership in the 2012 General Election," says Nyongesa.
"We are not even linked to a single politician in the current Parliament because we do not want to be seen to be fronting for any politician. When time comes, we will identify our preferred leaders to contest for elective positions," explains Nyongesa.
Nyongesa however confirmed the six conveners have been meeting each and every top visiting US official to Kenya, at the ambassador’s residency.
Currently, NYF brings together over 20,000 grassroots youth organisations and youth initiatives with a subscriber base of over 1.5 million youth spread throughout the country and across religious, political, gender, cultural and ethnic divides.
"The organisations are now cognizant of their partners’ activities due to coordination efforts at the local, regional and national levels. Therefore, their activities have a greater impact and the youth they serve have an amplified voice," pointed out Nyongesa.
During the August 4, last year’s referendum, the NYF held town hall meetings to drum support for the new Constitution in 27 districts currently referred to as counties.
"We are using this meetings to establish county steering committees that will in turn formulate constituency and ward committees," says Nyongesa.
Between November 10 and 12, It’s speculated a Special team from the US may fly in this February to boost the ‘Yes Youth Can’ initiative and the NYF mobilisation and advocacy ability