Youth to get 10 per cent State jobs

Young people will have access to 10 per cent of government contracts following Tuesday’s order by President Kibaki lifting all restrictions facing them.

The President directed acting Finance minister Njeru Githae and Attorney-General Githu Muigai to remove all “legal bottlenecks” in a bid to accelerate the growth of youth-owned enterprises.

He said the decision followed the realisation that youth enterprises were left out when contracts were awarded.

“Five years ago, I directed that 10 per cent of government procurement be allocated to our youth…however, they are yet to fully enjoy this benefit,” said the President.

“I therefore direct the Finance minister and AG to remove all legal bottlenecks that hinder them from accessing the contracts,” he declared at celebrations to mark the fifth anniversary of the Youth Enterprise Development Fund (YEDF) in Nairobi.

Some of the bottlenecks to be removed include lowering the cost of bid documents and reducing or scrapping bidding bonds.

The bonds are a cash deposit which assures that should a bidder win a particular tender, he would be able to execute the contract as provided.

The event also saw the unveiling of the fund’s new logo.

President Kibaki said ministries must ensure they included “youth-focused” targets in performance contracts.

“I acknowledge that the fund or indeed the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports cannot deal with all youth issues single-handedly. We need concerted efforts from all government departments,” the Head of State said.

The fund was started in February 2007 and is one of Vision 2030’s flagship projects.

Set up to solve unemployment, the fund mainly targets young people between 18 and 35, who number about 13 million.

Its chief executive, Mr Mwatata Juma, said loans worth Sh5.9 billion had been advanced to 158,000 youth enterprises.

Of the amount, Sh615 million was advanced to 13,341 group projects while Sh66 million was disbursed to 2,645 individual enterprises at the constituency level.