Young people are Kenya's future, invest more in them

Kenya’s population is currently at 45 million with about one million Kenyans being born every year. Out of the 45 million, a third are young people between the ages of 15- 24 years. Moreover, it is also estimated that 78% of the Kenyan population is below the age of 35.

The huge youth population usually represents an opportunity to introduce progress. They say a youthful nation is a rich nation. One would expect Kenya to be a rich nation since it is a youthful nation but that is not the case.

The youth have been forgotten and left to rot. Our leaders have turned a blind eye and a deaf ear to young people who are perceived as future leaders.

More than half of youth here in Kenya live in poverty and often cannot afford their basic needs. Some of the main challenges that young people face in this country are employment, poverty, HIV/AIDS, unintended pregnancies, unsafe abortion, gender inequality, lack of education and sexual and gender-based violence just to mention but a few.

Instead of improving the lives of young people Kenya's politicians have embarked on a mission to improve their lives by increasing their salaries and making questionable expenditures with zero chills.

Most of our leaders see young people as a problem but the truth of the matter is young people are not the problem. In fact, they are the solution. Young people are the best agents of change and they have the most to gain if we address all the challenges they face and we will have the most to lose if we fail to address these challenges.

We must make decisions on allocation of resources while keeping the interest of our future generations in mind. We must invest more in young people and place the fulfillment of human rights at the centre of development.

To empower young people means giving them the tools that would help them become more influential and productive actors in the society. In order to achieve this, the government must end all forms of inequalities and discrimination faced by young people, particularly adolescent girls such as unsafe abortion, child marriage, HIV infection, unintended pregnancies, sexual violence and other risks that might derail their future.

At the centre of these efforts must be the promotion of access to education and health care services including sexual and reproductive health and family planning.

A young person who is ten years old today will be an adult in 2030 which is the target year for achieving the sustainable development goals. The government of Kenya must ensure that the path of these young individuals through adolescence and youth leads to a brighter future for them and their community and the country. For us to change the world we must invest more in young people.