Youths ask Kibaki to declare joblessness national disaster

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By PETER NG’ETICH pngetich@ke.nationmedia.com
Posted  Sunday, November 4  2012 at  19:38

IN SUMMARY

• The youths, under National Youth Forum (NYF), on Sunday said of the 18 million voters the electoral commission intends to register for polls, 12 million of them are young people, six million of whom are jobless.
• NYF, which was formed in 2008 after the post-election violence, brings together over 20,000 grassroots youth organisations and youth initiatives.
• NYF secretary-general Ngacha Njeri on Sunday said that President Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga pledged to create 740,000 jobs annually in Agenda Four of the Peace Accord but this had not been done.

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Some 1.7 million youths want the government to declare unemployment a national disaster.

The youths, under National Youth Forum (NYF), on Sunday said of the 18 million voters the electoral commission intends to register for polls, 12 million of them are young people, six million of whom are jobless.

NYF, which was formed in 2008 after the post-election violence, brings together over 20,000 grassroots youth organisations and youth initiatives.

NYF secretary-general Ngacha Njeri on Sunday said that President Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga pledged to create 740,000 jobs annually in Agenda Four of the Peace Accord but this had not been done.

“What has been achieved under the Agenda Four is the Constitution only and we want the President to declare unemployment a national disaster so that all presidential candidates can put it in their agendas,” Mr Njeri said.

He said after the declaration, a Sh2 billion kitty should be set up to lend funds to youths to create jobs for themselves.

“Failure by the government to declare it a national disaster, we will petition the Chief Justice with our more than one million members signatures, we go to a referendum and it be declared a disaster,” Mr Njeri said.

He said in the US, joblessness stands at 7.9 per cent and it is a big issue while in Kenya the rate is at 60 per cent yet nobody was tackling the problem seriously.

“Of the 60 per cent, youth take up 70 per cent of the joblessness which should be taken seriously,” Mr Njeri said.

He said when HIV and Aids was declared a national disaster in 1989, about Sh5 billion was dedicated to war against the scourge with all the ministries taking an active part in the fight. The same should happen with joblessness, he said.

Political and development advisor of NYF Jeremiah Ammbbaassaah said with the Sh2 billion, youths could start a creative and arts industry, which can employ 780,000 youths per year.