President Uhuru picks career administrator to clean NYS mess

Machakos County Commissioner Matilda Sakwa

Machakos County Commissioner Matilda Sakwa is the new director general of the National Youth Service.

President Uhuru Kenyatta appointed Ms Sakwa to take over from James Tembur, who has been acting for the past one month.

She takes office at a time the troubled NYS has been hitting the headlines over corruption and fraud scandals.

Former NYS director general Richard Ndubai and his deputy, Sam Michuki, are battling court cases after they were charged in relation to the loss of Sh469 million.

The man Mr Ndubai took from in 2015, Nelson Githinji, was also charged in court over loss of money in the first NYS scam. Sakwa takes up the role in the wake of reports that operations at the service risked grinding to a halt after suppliers refused to make further deliveries because of delayed payments.

“Some of us who have been doing genuine business with NYS have not been paid for the past four years. We feel bad when we read reports of people being paid millions for supplying nothing,” said one supplier who sought anonymity for fear of reprisal.

Sakwa has expressed confidence that she is up to the task and promised to clean up the institution.

The career administrator is currently pursuing a PhD. She holds a Master’s degree in development studies from the International Institute of Social Studies, Erasmus University Rotterdam in the Netherlands.

She has a postgraduate diploma in HIV/Aids from East Anglia University, UK, a diploma in government reforms from Beijing, China and a certificate in strategic leadership from the Kenya School of Government.