Kenya rolls out programs to revamp the economy as 770,000 youths lose their jobs

The Government has rolled out short term and long term interventions to cushion the vulnerable members of the society, and to revamp the economy.

This comes as Data from Kenya National Bureau of Statistics indicated that 771, 439 youths lost their jobs in the three months to March 2020.

The interventions include the weekly stipend of Kshs. 1,000, to those adversely affected by this COVID -19 pandemic.  According to Chief Administrative Secretary for Health, Dr. Rashid Aman, the government has so far disbursed over ksh1 billion in support of the initiative.

The program will be complemented by the Kazi Mtaani program, which has employed over 26,000 youth to help enhance standards of hygiene, within urban centres, Dr. Aman revealed that so far the Government has paid out over Kshs. 350 million to the youth already enrolled in this program.

“Plans are underway to expand it to recruit over 200,000 youth spread across the whole country, he disclosed even as the Government continues to fund the Inua Jamii social protection program, which targets to cushion the elderly and other vulnerable people in the society, he added.

“In the current Financial Year, the Government has injected over Kshs. 26 billion into this program which has benefitted over one million members of the society,’ Dr. Aman said.

These programs, are all part of an elaborate Government strategy to protect the people and to revamp the economy. Recently, His Excellency the President unveiled an 8-point economic stimulus package, valued at Kshs. 53.7 billion, to aid in boosting the recovery of the economy. These are all efforts targeted at mitigating the impact of the pandemic, he said.

“All these initiatives are predicated on how our coronavirus infection curve behaves. If the curve rises exponentially, it will certainly undermine whatever initiatives that the Government has put in place to revamp the economy,” he noted and added that the behavior of the infection curve is totally dependent on our behavior the people.

“Each of us has a role to play. Adopting responsible social behaviors to break the transmission chain of the virus is of vital importance.  We must therefore, continue to strictly observe the containment measures and obey the advisories issued by the Government,” he stressed.