Ababu Namwamba, the cabinet secretary for youth, sports, and the arts, has promised to make sure that 20,000 young people sign up for the National Youth Service every year.
After the Service was formally handed to the ministry on Monday, Ababu gave a speech at NYS’s Nairobi headquarters in which he described his vision for a changed NYS that would be an enabler and driver of the government manifesto and other development initiatives.
Ababu stated, “I try to help the Service to upgrade national service functions with specific emphasis on climate-smart agriculture and value addition for enhanced food production, propagation of tree seedlings, and tree planting in order to accomplish the targeted youth intake of 20,000 annually.”
He declared that he will work to channel the creative energy of Kenyan youth toward the achievement of Vision 2030, an enhanced food supply chain, and climate change mitigation strategies.
The CS also promised to support young people’s innovation in order to encourage new businesses and the expansion of MSMEs among young people for more job possibilities.
In order to achieve this, the CS called for the implementation and strengthening of progressive institutional, legal, and regulatory reforms that will ensure that the management of the NYS is more effective, efficient, transparent, and accountable.
He emphasized the need of upholding the Service’s guiding values of professionalism and discipline in all of its endeavors.
These principles make up a special concoction of differentiators that keep NYS at the top of the league in terms of educating children and serving the country.
Ababu praised departing CS Margaret Kobia for persistently striving to revitalize the NYS and leading it to new heights.
According to him, “the name NYS has gradually changed from one that conjures up gloom to one that generates hope and admiration.”
When the Service was faced with a Sh10.5 billion scandal in 2018 over suspected payments involving bogus contracts, NYS’s reputation took a turn for the worse.
