Jack Ochieng Ohito, DevReporter, Siaya County
- Thirty-three percent of the population of Siaya County is made up of youth.
- There is a need for fair training opportunities for the youth on financial literacy and management.
According to the Kenya Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) 2019 report, thirty-three percent of the population of Siaya County comprises youth,. However, the majority of them are not in employment, education or training.
Talking to RBNews, David Otieno, a member of a youth group called Maendeleo Farmers Group, says that they were lucky to get a loan of Ksh. 100,000 from the Youth Fund to start a poultry project. However, this dream did not come with the kind of blessings as they had anticipated.
“After receiving the money, things changed; officials swindled half of the amount and so the remaining Ksh. 50,000 could not support the project, and thus the project suffered a major blow at the beginning,” Otieno says.
He added that once their group got the money, a battle ensued – people forgot about the mission they had at the beginning; the patience faded away.
Proper Training
Otieno suggests a need for proper training on financial literacy and management for the youth, before being advanced such loans.
“Financial and fiscal management is key to youth groups. With proper training, there will be a reduction in wastage of funds availed to the youth for empowerment,” he argues.
However, Mr. Maurice Owich, the group’s chairman, attributes Otieno’s sentiments to members who lost hope in his leadership, only to reappear once the project got funding.
“In leadership, we have such people who don’t want to see the outcome of projects but only criticise everything,” Owich states.
Sharon Obiero, a student studying Procurement at Jaramogi Oginga Odinga Science and Technology (JOOUST), wonders how the vision to provide adequate and appropriate technical, vocational, entrepreneurial, and life skills to the youth as well as develop their capacity in sports management and training in the county, can be achieved if a clear roadmap and youth policies, such as on training, are yet to be developed.
Talking to RBNews, Ivy Atieno who studies a secretarial and hospitality course at Siaya Institute of Science Technology (SIT), condemned the biases in how training is provided to youth groups and asked for improvement.
“We kindly ask the government to help institutions supporting the youth with finances and also give them guidance on how to spend the money,” says Ivy Atieno.
No Corruption
While visiting Young Generation Alliance in Alego Usonga Constituency, Siaya Couonty, Mr. John Odede, secretary to the Youth Fund Board, addressed allegations of corruption on how loans are given stressing that such loans are given on merit and no corruption was involved.
“The process of giving loans is tedious, and you must provide all the documents needed, no shortcuts.”
To make the process of you empowerment is sustainable, the government should focus on the vision that ensures that the youth are appropriately skilled in relevant areas that can enable them to be self-reliant.
