President William Ruto has directed the Ministries of Defence and Interior and National Administration to allocate at least 30 per cent of their vacancies to the National Youth Service (NYS) recruits.
The president said the move is aimed at ensuring that the skills acquired by the servicemen and women are put to meaningful use.
“We will double the NYS enrollment to 20,000 a year as a mechanism of building sufficient patriotism and according to opportunities to millions of the youth,” he said.
He made the remarks on Friday during the NYS recruits passing out parade at the National Youth Service Paramilitary Academy in Gilgil, Nakuru County.
The ministries to absorb the servicemen are the ministries of Environment, Climate Change and Forestry, Tourism, Wildlife and Heritage.
The head of state underscored that the move would encourage and motivate many young Kenyans on their path to national service and productivity.
He noted that the youth have the energy, talents and drive that can help in the transformation of Kenya.
Likewise, the commander-in-chief lauded NYS for its plan to contribute to the enhancement of Government service delivery by providing personnel to assist in digitization, automation and migration of Government services online.
He said that the service’s plan to escalate its participation by expanding enrolment to ICT in its programs is an indication of the commitment to establishing the youth as indispensable engines of transformation.
Consequently, the President observed that the Service should be facilitated by the Ministry of Water, Sanitation and Irrigation to engage in the construction of at least 100 dams and water pans yearly.
This, he added, will support the Government agenda and enhance NYS’ financial self-reliance.
“This spirit of productive learning should extend to the cultivation of nearly 80,000 acres of land under commercial food production,” he stated.
