From wheelbarrow to boda boda, Ruto unveils another Sh5 billion youth empowerment plan

President William Ruto during the empowerment of youth and women groups from Nairobi County. [File, Standard] President William Ruto is now banking on a new initiative aimed at empowering the young people while creating job opportunities. Ruto on Friday said the National Youth Opportunities Towards Advancement (NYOTA) programme is a Sh5 billion partnership deal between the Kenya Kwanza Administration and the World Bank. Speaking at State House Nairobi where he met Principal Secretaries, Ruto said his government has adopted a whole-of-government approach for the nationwide roll-out of the programme. The flagship partnership is designed to support 100,000 young people across the country, with 70 beneficiaries drawn from each of Kenya's 1,450 wards. According to President Ruto, each successful applicant will receive a Sh50,000 grant to kick-start their entrepreneurial ventures, opening up opportunities in business and enterprise. "The programme will also involve 90,000 youth who will be trained to gain job experience, 20,000 on recognition of prior learning, and another 600,000 who will be trained on Access to Government Procurement Opportunities (AGPO)," he said. He explained that this measure is meant to guarantee smooth and transparent implementation of the programme. While pointing out that by bringing together leaders from the executive, legislature and county governments, the government is making the programme inclusive, Ruto said, "This is coming as a result of being deliberate about doing something about employment, empowerment and engagement with young people." President William Ruto during a high-level meeting with Principal Secretaries to prepare for the nationwide roll-out of NYOTA at State House, Nairobi on Oct 3, 2025. [PCS] On Monday, the PSs will meet governors, Members of Parliament and county assemblies, and chiefs to sensitise them on the programme and map out a national roll out of the project. The meeting will align all stakeholders to ensure effective delivery of the programme across the country. Ruto noted that NYOTA is part of a broader agenda to create meaningful opportunities for young people. Alongside affordable housing, labour mobility and digital jobs, NYOTA will empower the next generation drivers of innovation and expand enterprise. Principal Secretary Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Susan Mang'eni said the project is designed to improve the livelihoods of vulnerable youth. Ms Mang'eni pointed out that the project is aimed at improving youth employability, expansion of job opportunities, support for a youth savings' culture, and enhancement of youth entrepreneurs' access to markets. "We target to benefit young people in all wards. It is gender-inclusive, with emphasis on 50-50 gender parity," she said. In August this year, Ruto said the government would spend in excess of Sh2.7 billion on the initiative. The NYOTA plan comes amid criticism that the said empowerments are meant to manipulate the young people with 'fake' mercy. ALSO READ: Muturi slams Ruto's 'boda boda economy', calls it poverty with a helmet According to some quarters, as cameras flash and speeches flow in the said empowerment events, beneath the ceremonies lie a deeper tragedy, the quiet transformation of a generation from warriors into beggars, from lions into house rats. Former MP and Human Rights lawyer Gitobu Imanyara said instead of dismantling the structural barriers to employment for the youth, the government keeps serving them with short-term hustles as though they were long-term solutions. "Kenya's youth are not lazy. They are not short on ambition. They are not allergic to hard work. What they lack is not motivation but opportunity," he said. According to him, Ruto's wheelbarrow and car wash policy is not empowerment but an economic sedation. "It is the art of keeping people busy enough to survive but too exhausted to challenge the system. It is poverty management disguised as poverty eradication," he said.

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From wheelbarrow to boda boda, Ruto unveils another Sh5 billion youth empowerment plan

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