CS Kobia: Operations at NYS are as usual

Public Service Cabinet Secretary Margret Kobia has come out to refute claims that operations at the National Youth Service stations were at a standstill.

In a statement, the CS said that over 10,000 service men and women are still in the NYS Vocational Training School, while another 14,000 are in various parts of the county undertaking the national service duties and mandated.

“No operations have ground to a halt in any of our NYS campus,” read part of the statement.

This follows reports in a cross section of the media that operations at the National Youth Service were grounded after the Sh9 billion graft allegations unearthed about a month ago.

Kobia defended reports that NYS service men were recruited in other institutors over unpaid salaries.

“Allowances for all students have been paid without any delay. The last batch of students was paid on Friday 8th June, 2018,” she said

The CS further said that “payment of suppliers will be done after due diligence is carried out” defending the institution’s position against which individuals are awarded tender supplies.

So far, at least 43 suspects implicated in the NYS corruption scandal are in police custody amid ongoing probe by the Directive of Criminal Investigations (DCI).

On June 6, the suspects were denied bail with the Chief Magistrate Douglas Ogoti ruling that the charges faced were serious and reason enough to deny them bail.

“I find that the charges facing the accused are serious in nature and a threat to national security. The economic crimes touch the core of the country’s financial health which can lead to anarchy and in the circumstances the court is justified to deny them bail,” he stated.

However, CS Kobia said they are bound to face some challenges since NYS is a huge institution.

She also assured parents, guardians and the public that they had a capable team in place that handles the operations of the service competently and attends to emerging issues.