Interior
Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen has attributed the problems faced by Gen Z as unemployment and lack of economic opportunities, to the failure to plan ahead.
Speaking
during a meeting during his
tour of the Upper Eastern region,
Murkomen dismissed a recent call by retired President Uhuru Kenyatta
for the youth to rise up and demand good governance as misplaced and dishonest.
According
to him, failure to plan ahead by past leaders is the biggest challenge that
President William Ruto is now facing, with the youth demanding jobs and
better living standards.
For
instance, Murkomen said, the government is implementing the Affordable Housing
programme, which aims to increase access to housing, reduce housing deficit and
improve living standards, particularly for low-income earners.
He said Kenya and other African countries are faced with
serious economic challenges because of the failure by past leaders to open up
industries and expand manufacturing sectors to create employment and spur growth.
“The reason we find
ourselves in a situation where we have restless young people is the failure to
plan a few years ago. The failure to plan 20-30 years ago for this population
is the reason we are where we are..,” said Murkomen.
Murkomen,
who kicked off the Jukwaa La Usalama forum for the Upper Eastern in
Meru, said the Kenya Kwanza administration has developed a plan to mitigate
against youth unemployment among other things.
He said:
“When we now tell our young people to rise up and save your country, it is
incumbent upon a person of the stature of a former President to first acknowledge
that we failed in the past, that we failed to plan for you; therefore, forgive
us.”
“You
cannot feign ignorance that you are not part of those who created the problem
bedevilling young people at the moment, so the first step is to acknowledge your
failure,” he said.
“It
is also important to tell the youth the truth, that as a nation, we must work
harder, contribute more to avoid us falling in the same pitfalls in another
20-30 years, and that will take a lot of sacrifice,” he said.
He said
leaders should stop misleading the youth for short-term political gain.
“The
current administration is trying to come up with mechanism to address this
problem and it comes with a sacrifice, and what is this sacrifice, it comes in
the form of Affordable Housing so that you can have build and correct the
mistakes of the past and hand a better future for our young people,” he said.
“When
you tell them to rise up, you must also tell them it has a cost and the cost is
more than just demonstrations, it means you must work and sweat, and those who
have jobs must pay more; it involves taxes, so you expect balanced
information,” he stated.
He
challenged the retired
president and other past
leaders to show Kenyans what they did for the youth when they were in office.
“The
message alone of telling the youth to rise up is an harmless but in the context
of what role you have played over time, I would expect a person in the level of
a former President to say I did this and that or to say I know how difficult it
is to cause changes in this sector so please support your president and
government,” he stated.
Delivering
the keynote address at the annual second Guild leaders’ Summit at Makerere
University in Kampala recently, Uhuru asked the youth to embrace their role as
the freedom fighters of this era.
“You
have the numbers, you have the time and energy to get involved and effect the
changes you want,” he said.
