Youth leaders urge State to invest in sports and art

By Ally Jamah

Youth leaders are calling on Kenyans to tap the huge potential in sports and performing arts.

CEO of Youth Agenda Hussein Mohammed said investments in the two industries will give rise to new jobs and help cut persistent burden of youth unemployment.

He explained that the three industries are not receiving serious attention they deserve thereby denying the country huge economic and social benefits.

"Unfortunately, we don’t even take sports and performing arts as potentially multi-billion shilling industries. We continue to underrate them when we are sitting on a goldmine. Currently sports and arts are hardly industries in Kenya," said Hussein who is also CEO of Extreme Sports.

He called on Government to create infrastructure and policies to support the industries as well as visionary leadership to unlock potential in youth.

"Article 55 of the Constitution is very clear. It is the Government’s mandate to provide job opportunities to the youth and they should focus on sports, performing arts as well as information technology," he said.

Director of Teenwise Media Ngaruiya Githegi said sports and performing arts are still considered "informal sectors" adding investment in music, television, theatre and sports offer a huge potential for the country.

"At least performing arts is beginning to mature and we are seeing returns but we are still scratching the surface," he said.

deserve programmes

The leaders were speaking on Monday at Standard Group Centre in Nairobi after signing a deal that saw the group become the media sponsor for the upcoming Chaguo La Teeniez Awards set for this Saturday.

The awards have been running for the past ten years and they help identify young talents in sports, academics and performing arts. Standard Group is sponsoring the event for the second year.

Group’s Chief Operating Officer Sarvjeet Channa said the media house is keen to support efforts to identify and nurture various talents.

"We must bring in mechanisms to identify, recognise and award the youth. That is why we are happy to work with Chaguo la Teeniez awards committee," he said.

He explained that the youth form a very significant proportion of the country’s population and deserve programmes that advance their interests.

Other sponsors of the event are Kenafric Industries, manufacturers of Fresh gum as well as other confectionaries, footwear and stationery.

Also present in the meeting was Standard Group’s Assistant Director (Broadcast and Creative Services) Peter Gichui and Wangeci Gitahi, Head of Operations at Center-stage Marketing.