'KAZI KWA VIJANA, PESA KWA WAZEE'

Today as I was creating this blog, so many ideas were crossing my mind on how as a youth I can embrace the ICT to exploit my talents and realise my potential in writing and motivational speaking. The Internet has become one of the greatest market places to sell oneself,products or services and endless opportunities for the young (.com) generation as Eldoret North MP Hon. William Ruto, a 2012 presidential hopeful sentiments.

 In the 9.00 O'clock news aired on NTV early this week, he was quoted saying that at this day and age, the youth should not be given some 'Jembes and Pangas  wakachimbue mchanga' in the name of job creation dubbed ' kazi kwa vijana'. This he was criticising the initiative that was started by the Office of the Prime Minister Rt. Hon Raila Odinga to create jobs for the Kenyan youth.
In the beginning of November Mr. Odinga faced the fiercest critism especially from the ODM rebel MPs who are now supporters of Mr. William Ruto and his new UDM party which he was launching that day. Pressure was mounted on him to take political responsibility for the alleged mismanagement of the funds.

But in a way I agree with Mr. Ruto, that the Kenyan youth, who form the largest part of the population should be facilitated to capitalise on the endless opportunities available from the rapidly growing ICT. Major corporations such as Google and other social media like facebook are the products of youthful minds from the western world. The Government should continue investing in the ICT sector by rolling out programmes which will help training the youth acquire the relevant skills and equipment such as laptops,and enhance internet connectivity and affordability. The recent 'Wezesha Campaign', a partnership between the Government of Kenya through line ministries and service providers was a good idea to achieve this objective. About 30,000 university students benefited from this project and were able to acquire laptops. But what about the whooping remaining millions of youthful Kenyans, whom a majority never even got the opportunity to access university education or facilities? Internet costs are still very high and hence prohibitive to many unemployed youth and those still in schools. Today, I have to rely on internet connection available on campus library as there is no cable connectivity in the hostels. Many homes also lack on such facilities and yet the costs for the wireless connectivity are so prohibitive.   

This way, the dream of achieving the Kenya Vision 2030 will be more realistic when adequate attention is given to the youth, helping them embrace ICT as an avenue for job creation and self reliance and not 'Jembes and pangas'  what critics are now calling an avenue for 'kazi kwa vijana, lakini pesa kwa wazee'