NYS programme to address radicalization Kenyatta

President Uhuru Kenyatta has directed the recruitment of youth at the Coast into the National Youth Service empowerment programme, paving way for employment of tens of thousands.

He said the recruitment should be conducted in every constituency in the region to ensure the youth a chance to take part in the NYS project that is also going on in several parts of the country.

The President singled out Mombasa Old Town as an area where implementation of the NYS project should start, saying the project will train the youth in skills that will enable them to earn a livelihood.

“This project is not aimed at benefiting only a few areas, but the whole country. I look forward to joining the youth in the clean up exercise in the Old Town of Mombasa,” President Kenyatta said.

The Head of State was speaking during a meeting with the Coast Parliamentary Group members at State House, Mombasa. The meeting, which discussed the region’s development agenda, was attended by 26 Members of Parliament and several Members of County Assemblies, from the region.

The President said the NYS will help curb most of the challenges arising from unemployment, including terrorism, drug abuse and radicalization.

He also asked Coast MPs to work with the Regional Commander and Regional Commissioner to start a crackdown on drug traffickers and from Tuesday next week. The President said MPs and their constituents know who the peddlers are and should expose them.

The directive is similar to the one against second-generation brews in central Kenya. It has led to the closure of illicit brew dens and the rehabilitation of thousands of youth.

The Head of State also outlined the development projects the Government is implementing at the Coast, ranging from road improvement and construction of the Standard Gauge Railway to the expansion of the Mombasa port.

Coast leaders – led by Coast Parliamentary Group chairman Gideon Mung’aro – assured the President of the region’s support, saying that people have seen the development projects the government has implemented in the region.

Mr Mung’aro said people at the Coast want to be “shareholders in the Government and not stakeholders”, emphasising that come 2017 all votes from the region will go to Jubilee.

By PSCU