Azimio la Umoja recently released its manifesto. It contains promises of change for all Kenyans, but what exactly does it hold for the youths. As per the 2019 Kenya Population and Housing Census, the youth persons below 35 years were 35,700,787, accounting for 75.1% of the total population. Those of economic age youths between 18-34 constituted 13,777,600 which is 29.0%, with about 75% of unemployed people being the Youths.
With the current unemployment rate in Kenya amongst the youth, the Azimio la Umoja manifesto has identified opportunities that they could exploit to create employment for the youth. They are; the existence of unemployed and not fully employed youths who are readily available to contribute to economic development, room to expand youth participation to currently unexploited sectors, the sector has the potential for youth to create new enterprises and innovations, extant demand for affordable and accessible credit by the youth, and increasing demand for social services targeting issues that affect youth productivity.
Through these opportunities, the Azimio la Umoja manifesto has made several commitments to the youth. Some of these commitments are the creation of more employment and entrepreneurship opportunities for the youth, the creation of a ministry for youth affairs, and the harnessing of the current skills and knowledge base of the youth and enhancing their innovative abilities to enable them to become globally competitive and make available to the youth-owned businesses, a seven-year tax holiday on start-ups so long as they are micro and small enterprises, as well as, accessible and affordable credit facilities on favorable terms including options for a loan guarantee. Evidently, Kenya's youth manifesto comprehensively advocates for conducive trade and business environments by reducing business costs for youth-run entities by subsidizing taxes and licensing fees for the first year of business and mobilizing resources to develop local industries.
The Azimio la Umoja manifesto is not short of commitments. The manifesto has declared that it would make common user facilities, including tools and equipment, available to the youths who have undergone vocational training to enable them to jump-start their enterprises, as well as recommit, devolve, revamp and re-launch access to procurement opportunities for the youths. There would also be an increase in the uptake of TVET by the youths in informal settlements and rural and marginalized areas. Furthermore, it would establish youth-based innovation hub centers/facilities such as software and program development and industrial and business incubation centers.
In addition to the above commitments, the manifesto has promised to upscale the youth internship program in both public and private sectors to gain work experience, review HELB loans and CRB listing for graduates with a view to making it recipient friendly, enable skill-building and working with Private Sector, establish a Regional Skills fund, to provide long-term sustainable funding to address weaknesses in our youths including programs to improve leadership and people management capabilities. In reference to Azimio la Umoja Manifesto, Raila proposed a review of HELB Loan by expanding the limit to reflect the cost of living in Kenya as it evolves, removing the interest rates accrued and CRB listing of the graduates, which absolutely advocates the same as to Kenya Youth Manifesto.
The manifesto has also promised to reform the education system from the Primary to the University level to include an Essential Skills Framework to ensure that our young people are building skills needed for the future e.g., financial intelligence, taxation, and IT.
The Kenya Youth Manifesto advocates for the economic transformation of youth through creating job opportunities, given that youth unemployment remains one of the most critical challenges in Kenya today. The Azimio government has had a considerable touch with the Kenya Youth Manifesto, looking forward to providing ample opportunities for young Kenyans to reach their full potential if elected as the next administration by creating more employment and entrepreneurship opportunities for them. As it concerns Kenyan youths, this manifest has painted a rather positive picture about how their lives will change once all these commitments are fulfilled - transforming not only their lives but also that of many others around them once these promises are put into practice.
The Azimio la Umoja manifesto promises to improve the rate of employment for youths. Unemployment is not the only challenge facing youths. Hence, the Azimio la Umoja manifesto is not fully equipped to transform the lives of Kenyan youths into wholesome individuals or a healthy society.
Politics being politics, there is no sure way to believe that the commitments made by the manifesto will be achieved. It has become the culture of politicians to make attractive promises to woo the masses to vote for them. The lack of a clear pathway to ensure that the commitments made by the Azimio la Umoja manifesto begs the question of how achievable the commitments are. For example, the lack of a clear funding structure could compromise the commitments made by the manifesto.
The suicide rate amongst the Kenyan youths has been on the rise lately, causing a growing concern over the mental health of youths. Unemployment, drug abuse, and illnesses, amongst other factors, have led to increased suicides amongst the youths. The mental health of Kenyan youths has been paid little to no attention. The Universal Healthcare commitment termed ‘Baba care’ has not addressed mental health, which was recently declared a pandemic by President Uhuru Kenyatta.
Moreover, medical personnel is too few to address the health needs of the country sufficiently, let alone those of the Kenyan youths. Currently, there is one doctor for every 33,000 people in the rural areas and 1,700 in the urban areas, with an estimation of only 12% of the health facilities being youth-friendly. Despite the Azimio la Umoja manifesto's commitment to improve and expand healthcare infrastructure, the manifesto could have addressed a similar commitment from the perspective of the Kenyan youths.
Kenya Youth Manifesto extensively focuses on enhancing agricultural opportunities for youths being sectioned in the modernized agricultural sector by adopting climate-smart technology and innovation and improving access to factors of production, modern technologies, and Good Agricultural, which Azimio la Umoja manifesto has adopted to incorporate practices that transform the sector through the use of affordable Kenyan manufactured machinery, to be more efficient, improve productivity and create employment through harnessing youth demographic dividend.
According to Azimio la Umoja Presidential Candidate Raila A Odinga, who is the aspiring President, the Azimio government recognizes that the youth are the engine of the country’s long-term growth and development. As the Kenya youth manifesto plots a demand in strengthening the capacity of youth in resource mobilization, The Azimio government expands room for programs such as The Hashtag Inawezekana programme, which will equip the youth with the mindset, skills, funds, and technology to enable them to innovate and even surpass their global counterparts.
The Azimio la Umoja manifesto did an excellent job of mentioning possible solutions for the increasing unemployment rate among youths. However, there are other important factors that would influence the lives of the youths - like crime rates amongst them. This was one topic that was not touched upon enough in this document, but it is something that should have been given more attention to make sure that tomorrow's society would be thriving and wholesome.
The Youth Café works with young men and women around Africa as a trailblazer in advancing youth-led approaches toward achieving sustainable development, social equity, innovative solutions, community resilience, and transformative change.