Jubilee will improve your lot, DP William Ruto tells youth

Deputy President William Ruto (right) and the National Council of Churches of Kenya General Secretary Rev. Canon Peter Karanja (left) sing a hymn during the NCCK centenary celebrations at Kabarak University in Nakuru August 21, 2013. Mr Ruto August 23, 2013 said the previous governments had marginalised the youth and Jubilee is determined to remedy the situation. FILE 

Deputy President William Ruto has said the previous governments had marginalised the youth and Jubilee is determined to remedy the situation.

Speaking at Equity Bank 4th Annual Leadership Congress of the Wings to Fly Scholars at Kenyatta University Friday, Mr Ruto said the future of Kenya depends on millions of young people.

“As a government, we are determined to maximise the potential of this generation. I look at you and see young men and women ready to make the right choices even if they are tough and unpopular. I see men and women with values,” said the Deputy President.

"Standard One pupils will have laptops next year, we are setting aside 30 per cent of all government procurement for young people and we are expanding and revitalising the Youth Fund and expanding the number of places in tertiary and vocational institutions,” he said.

He lamented that at the moment people live in a world where the mention of the word leader conjures images of power, wealth and great success and asked the scholars to reject the view.

“Leadership can and will often involve success, wealth and even power but it is not limited to these things alone. What about empathy? Honour? Honesty? Service? Generosity?” posed Mr Ruto.

The DP noted that true leadership is about service to others and commended the Wings To Fly partners: the Equity Group Foundation, The MasterCard Foundation, USAID, UKAID and KfW for deliberately creating the forum to help young Kenyans learn critical lessons in leadership.

He challenged the scholars to seriously consider adopting and practicing the values shared during the congress.

Since the inception of the project 4 years ago, over 6,396 scholars have been enrolled in more than 600 secondary schools across the country and over 8,600 others have secured scholarships.

MAKE A MARK

The scholars benefit from a comprehensive scholarship package covering tuition, boarding, uniform, books, shopping, pocket money and travel expenses over the four years of secondary school.

“I want to tell you that you are not too young to make a mark in this country. Jesus Christ had already accomplished His mission of salvation at the youthful age of 33,” said Mr Ruto.

US ambassador to Kenya Robert Godec said that education was key in changing the country from a third world country to a first world country and asked Kenyans to put in more energy preparing for a better Kenya in future.

He announced that the USAID was supporting about 3,000 students in the programme and had plans to scale up to 10,000 students in future.

Equity Group Foundation and Group CEO James Mwangi said Mr Godec had agreed to convene a corporate meeting with business leaders to absorb the beneficiaries of the projects as interns once they complete their KCSE this year.

“We will be giving internship to students who will have got a mean of B in class work as they await for their final examination results next year. We cannot absorb all the 3,000 students we need others to support us,” said Dr Mwangi.

He also lauded the support from the American government saying that 26 students who completed their secondary school education are set to join American universities.