How can NYS youth access the cash that was saved in saccos?

In this series in the Sunday Nation we invite readers to send questions to select public figures. Answers will be published in the next print and online editions of the newspaper. This week Cabinet Secretary Sicily Kariuki responds to your questions.

I am among the many Kenyans who are in full praise of the concept of Huduma Centres. However, the services at these centres seem to be deteriorating and you witnessed this when you made an impromptu visit at the Eldoret Huduma Centre. What became of this?

Komen Moris, Eldoret

We have 40 Huduma Centres in 36 counties and establishing the rest by the end of this financial year. Due to the rapid expansion in the last two years, a few ministries and departments have not been able to recruit adequate staff to occupy their counters in some centres. I have had consultations with my colleagues to ensure they post staff in all centres.

Additionally, my ministry is supporting affected departments by deploying clerical staff where required to ensure services are available. We have developed and rolled out service delivery standards manuals for our staff and set service charters to ensure that quality of customer service and efficiency of service delivery remains high.

Hello Mrs Kariuki, how can we benefit from our unrecognised talent, especially among people in villages?

Reuben Njang’iru Karanja, Kandara

Indeed young people should earn from their God-given talents. It is the policy of this Government to invest in requisite facilities and infrastructure to support talented youth to earn incomes. In this respect, government agencies continue to empower young talented people through affirmative action by giving youth income earning opportunities like participating at a fee in entertainment, emceeing or event management during public functions, and using existing government structures to link talented youth with organisations which promote talent development.

Have you thought of setting up a fund to support upcoming actors and singers?

David Chege, Eldoret

We are reengineering the products offered by the Youth Enterprise Development Fund (YEDF) to introduce impactful, demand driven services. Among the new products we are proposing are those addressing the needs of the creative sector including theatre, film and music, because many young people have expressed need for support in these areas.

This is part of our commitment to support the youth develop their talents. Youth who wish to venture into business can access loans from the YEDF so long as you are aged between 18 to 35.

In addition, you should be interested in starting a business or expanding an already existing one. The Fund has a wide range of loan products to suit your needs and whose details are available at the fund offices at the sub county headquarters. You may also visit www.youthfund.go.ke

Did you find any cartels at the National Youth Service tendering mechanism and what have you done about them?

Githuku Mungai

Let me start by clarifying that no institution gets more funds than it needs. Resources allocated to NYS or any government institution are based on planned activities as prioritised under the government development agenda. Owing to the high national expectation and considering the expanded mandate of NYS, it has in the past three years justified and was allocated resources to implement its expanded programmes and activities.

To ensure that allocated resources go to intended programmes, my ministry has undertaken measures to strengthen the institution’s governance ecosystem and put it in a position to effectively address some of the past challenges. 

Admittedly, a number of irregularities in procurement of goods and services were reported to have taken place at the NYS. The investigative and prosecutorial arms of government are dealing with the private firms, and individuals involved in these irregularities. I am happy to note that my team has verified all genuine outstanding payments to merchants, and those that have been cleared as having been regular continue to be paid.

Those that may require further investigations are being dealt with accordingly. NYS, like all departments of government, has migrated to the e-platform system for requisitioning and the procurement and payment is now fully automated.

You are a remarkable role model. What do you do to keep yourself relevant in the industry and how do you balance career, friends and family?

Patricia Kariuki, Nyeri

Thank you for the kind remarks. I have made it a habit to read as much and as wide as I can, and associate with people who enrich my experiences. I also consult my colleagues. All these assists me by ensuring that I am up to speed on issues relevant to my work and the world. During the length of my career, I have built relationships, all of which I have found useful at each level.

It is something I would encourage all young people to do and build on their social capital. I also believe waking up early and putting an honest day’s job — no short cuts, no cutting corners! More importantly I put God first in everything I do. 

As much as possible, I make time for my family and friends and treasure these ties and I thank God that I am lucky enough to have such a strong support network. 

First I would like to thank Nation Media Group for providing this platform to interact with leaders. Many youths who were in NYS had a portion of their pay retained and reportedly invested in a Sacco. Could you give us an update of the status of these funds and how we the youths whose money was retained can access the same? Secondly, what became of the NYS projects because there is no or very little work going on?

Joyce Awuor, Migori County

NYS has two categories of youth, namely: servicemen/women and community youth. For the first category, they are paid a monthly allowance/stipend of Sh700 of which Sh500 is remitted to their accounts and Sh200 retained as part of their savings.

The total amount becomes accessible to the youth upon their graduation which amount is dependent on the course duration. The second category is youth engaged in the Youth Empowerment Programme and is paid Sh471 per day. Of this, Sh141 goes to Sacco.

The youth have then been organised into 300 saccos based on geographical location, which have to date accumulated Sh1.4 billion in collective savings, aimed at getting them into enterprises.

Access by youth (in this case Sacco members) to these funds is guided by the Cooperative Societies Act Cap 490 in which they are expected to borrow loans for engaging in small scale businesses and repaying back at an interest.

Several projects have been commissioned under the NYS YEP. It is worth noting that some have been completed while others are still work in progress. The delays were occasioned by the stoppage of funds utilisation for close to seven months when I took over last year necessitated by the need to institute further fiscal discipline, controls and financial probity.

Further, NYS has undertaken an inventory and evaluation of all incomplete projects and developed a framework for completion. The projects are scheduled to be completed next month when the community youths, who are now in recess, are engaged through contractual labour agreements through their saccos.

Let me conclude by indicating that this programme is not one to offer perpetual employment, but rather, to empower the vulnerable youths by granting them a chance to earn daily wages for a minimum of six months together with an opportunity to be trained and to save.

Dear Madam, the government spent nearly half a billion in biometric registration of public workers as part of the Capacity Assessment and Rationalisation of the Public Service (CARPS) yet to date Kenyans have never been told the outcome of that exercise. What did the government discover and why it has taken this long for a report to be published?

George Oriwo, Homa Bay County

Firstly, we would like to clarify that the amount you quoted as having been spent is exaggerated.

Secondly, as you rightfully mentioned, the government carried out the biometric registration of workers in 2014 as part of the wider CARPS programme. Biometric registration was only a small part of this. This included human resource audit and skills assessment through biometric data solution, institutional/organisational review of ministries, department and agencies, and functional and workload analysis.

The first phase has been completed and the report submitted to the National and County Coordinating Summit which had commissioned the study. The report is going through internal consultation and is before Cabinet. As soon as it released, we will publish the results in the dailies for the public participation phase.

In my opinion, Uwezo Fund and Women Enterprise Fund have failed both on impact and in becoming revolving funds for two simple reasons: failure of (or the lack of) accompanying entrepreneurial mentorship and lack of (or outright negligence to uphold) an operational policy framework to ensure government sectors uphold the 30 per cent procurement policy for vulnerable groups. We are therefore hit hard with the reality of the status quo barons taking up tenders designated for vulnerable groups.

Charles Butiko, Vihiga County

Let me start with the reminder that Uwezo Fund commenced its operation in April 2014 and started disbursing funds in October 2014 while Women Fund started its operation earlier. It is evident that since inception Uwezo Fund has not completed three years, the time proven by experts as appropriate to undertake impact assessment for adequate results that can lead to effective decision making. However, Uwezo Fund has disbursed Sh5.3 billion to all 290 constituencies and the Fund has so far benefited 58,549 groups.

It is also important to note that the fund offers a six-month grace period and 24 months repayment period. At the moment the groups have so far repaid Sh950 million which has been revolved in some constituencies. Within the year most of the loans will have matured and the funds are expected to be revolved.

On its part, the Women Enterprise Development Fund continues to undertake training and capacity building on entrepreneurship, financial and business management. To date 830,835 women and youth across the country have been trained.

Other interventions by the fund include mentorship programmes, support in marketing of goods and services both in the regional and internationally as well as support in certification of products in partnership with the Kenya Bureau of Standards. So far over 100,000 women and youths have been trained on marketing and products are undergoing the process of certification.

For more questions and answers go to: www.nation.co.ke