SPEECH BY HIS EXCELLENCY HON. UHURU KENYATTA, C.G.H.

,
PRESIDENT AND COMMANDER IN CHIEF OF THE DEFENCE FORCES OF
THE REPUBLIC OF KENYA DURING THE ICGLR SPECIAL SUMMIT ON THE
FIGHT AGAINST YOUTH UNEMPLOYMENT THROUGH INFRASTRUCTURE
DEVELOPMENT AND INVESTMENT PROMOTION AT HOTEL VILLA ROSA
KEMPINSKI, NAIROBI ON 24TH JULY, 2014
My Brother President Yoweri Museveni,
Your Excellencies,
Distinguished Delegates,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Let me start by welcoming you all to Kenya or this im!ortant conerence" Your
!resence rereshes our collective commitment to overcoming the challenges
our young !eo!le in the region ace" Let me also than# you all or granting
Kenya the honour o hosting the $ummit, and the %&GL' Youth $ecretariat" %t is
my !leasure to say Karibuni"
Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
% must also, on behal o the government and !eo!le o the 'e!ublic o Kenya,
ex!ress my a!!reciation or your !ersonal contributions to our organi(ation"
Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
)ur region, indeed our continent, has a great git* a youthul, talented and
energetic !o!ulation" +e must build and leave a legacy worthy o them" ,he
tas# is all the more urgent because we ace many challenges, both internal and
external" -mong the most serious is our incom!lete understanding o the
nature and structure o youth unem!loyment in -rican over the !ast decade o
growth" +e #now that des!ite very encouraging growth in our !roduction, we
have not generated enough .obs to match the number o young entrants into
our mar#ets"
%t is also true that decades o underinvestment in the develo!ment o our
!eo!les/ talents have let us ill e0ui!!ed to meet the demands o our growing
economies" +hat is called or, rom each o us in a !osition to ma#e decisions
and !olicy in these matters is creativity, and a willingness to learn rom what
wor#s elsewhere" ,hat is why % am very !leased to see so many o you here,
ready to learn lessons rom each other, based on our res!ective develo!ment
ex!eriences, our common history and traditions and our mutual interest in
im!roving the lives o our young !eo!le"
Excellencies,
Distinguished Delegates,
)ur region has made signi1cant !rogress in su!!orting the inclusion o youth in
the national social2economic and !olitical agenda" You will recall that the
inclusion o youth in the develo!ment agenda ormally became a core !rinci!le
o the Dar es $alaam Declaration o 3ovember 4556, and later the Pact on
$ecurity, $tability and Develo!ment, which came into orce in 7une 4558" ,his
$ummit, thereore, builds on wor# done by our !redecessors, and strengthens
our !reviously agreed regional a!!roaches to youth em!loyment"
Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Let me now say a little about our a!!roach to these 0uestions in Kenya"
%nrastructure develo!ment, we can all agree, is #ey to em!loyment
creation,and to ensuring access to the incomes and decent livelihoods to all our
!eo!le es!ecially our youth"
My Government thereore !rioriti(ed inrastructure develo!ment and
investment to s!ur growth and .ob creation in all sectors o the economy" % do
not doubt that the ex!ansion and moderni(ation o our roads, air!orts, railways
has brought .obs, and raised the level at which our economy, and the region9s,
can com!ete"
,o maintain our momentum, my Government has develo!ed a national
em!loyment !olicy, which now awaits a!!roval by Parliament" ,he core
!ro!osal here is a sim!le test* that all ma.or investments and !ro.ects
underta#en in the country be sub.ected to analysis, to determine their !otential
or creating em!loyment"
Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
%n 45:5, Kenya ado!ted a new &onstitution, which im!osed an obligation on
the government to ta#e measures to ensure that our youth had access to
relevant education and training, em!loyment o!!ortunities, and was !rotected
rom harmul cultural !ractices and ex!loitation"
%n line with it, Kenya enacted a law that established the 3ational Youth &ouncil,
the better to gather and !resent the views o our youth, and to bring them ully
into our decision ma#ing ; a commitment ins!ired by our !olicy o
mainstreaming youth issues across all government sectors"
Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
-ccess to ca!ital remains a chie !roblem or our enter!rising young men ; the
obstacle most li#ely to !revent our young men and women rom turning their
creativity and energy into !roducts, services and institutions" ,hat is why my
government established a number o national initiatives, to nurture and build
an entre!reneurial culture among the youth, and to !ut into their hands the
ca!ital and s#ills they, and we, so urgently need"
)ur Youth Enter!rise Develo!ment <und is a K$h" = Billion revolving und that
has already bene1ted over 45,555 youth enter!rises and trained over 455,555
youth entre!reneurs" %t has also done well in establishing lin#ages between our
young entre!reneurs and older, more established !artners in industry sectors"
,his !rogramme has been ex!anded, and is now su!!orted by !arallel !ro.ects
that target the youth, women and !ersons living with disability, with a
combined revolving ca!ital o K$h" :> Billion, or :?6 million @$ dollars"
Government remains the !rinci!al actor in our economy" %t was time, we
decided, to !ut its inAuence directly in the service o youth entre!reneurshi!"
,hat is why Government now reserves B5C o all government !rocurement
o!!ortunities to enter!rises owned by youth, women and !ersons with
disability" ,his initiative, worth 4"B billion dollars,ma#es it !ossible or these
targeted grou!s, which had !reviously been sidelined in the !ublic !rocurement
!rocess, to directly engage and do business with Government"
,he !rivate sector has been e0ually insistent on !laying its !art" @nder an
internshi! !rogram closely coordinated by the Kenya Private $ector -lliance,
many o our young !eo!le have ound training in the s#ills they will need or
our .ob mar#ets" More than :B,555 young men and women have attended the
s#ills training, with >,555 1nding internshi!s in various sectors o the economy"
%t is a !leasure to re!ort that more than 8>C o those who com!lete this
!rogram have gone on to secure em!loyment"
Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
% have said much about the a!!roaches we have ound ruitul in Kenya" ,hat is
as it should be, or no !roblem o this magnitude will be solved, unless we 1rst
share our thoughts and ex!eriences" % loo# orward to hearing rom my brothers
and sisters here !resent, and learning rom them"
,he Government o Kenya has ado!ted em!loyment creation as a ma.or !olicy
agenda" ,he Dision 45B5, which is the country9s develo!ment blue!rint,
contains !rogrammes and !olicy reorms that will need to be im!lemented in
order to enhance and increase o!!ortunities or young !eo!le" ,he creation o
!roductive, decent and sustainable livelihoods or young !eo!le continues to
be our goal both in the !ublic and !rivate sector"
,o achieve this goal, the Government through the relevant Ministries, has
develo!ed the 3ational Em!loyment Policy" ,he !olicy is currently awaiting
Parliament9s a!!roval" @nder this Policy, all ma.or investments and !ro.ects in
the country will be sub.ected to systematic analysis to determine their
em!loyment creation !otential beore they are ado!ted or im!lementation"
,he government has urged Parliament to move with s!eed in discussing and
ado!ting the Em!loyment Policy into a $essional Pa!er"
Excellencies,
% am inormed that yesterday, the %&GL' 'egional %nter2ministerial &ommittee,
Ministers o Youth, and Labour ado!ted the decision to have the head0uarters
o the %&GL' regional multiunctional youth orum here in 3airobi"-s the
President, % wish to sincerely than# you or seeing Kenya as an ideal home or
the %&GL' youth" My Government will allocate initial resources to set u! this
oEce, whose location will be communicated to the %&GL' conerence
secretariat in due course"
Meanwhile, all state de!artments are conducting analysis to determine the
number o .obs they can create or the youth"
But whichever course we choose, let us as!ire, always, to instill our -rican
values and ethics in our young !eo!le" ,he challenges now conronting our
young !eo!le demand o them !erseverance, !atriotism and !ublic s!irit"
,hese virtues are not new to us* we #now, rom long ex!erience, that no
country or community can !ros!er without them"
+e also #now that these values have a !articular inAection in our -rican
context" &onse0uently, it is our duty not only to teach our youth the s#ills they
must have to com!ete in an increasingly interconnected world, but to !reserve
and !rotect their distinctive -rican s!irit"
%t is now my !leasure to wish you all the most ruitul deliberations"
Th!" #$% !& G$& '()** #$% ((.