Uasin Gishu Governor Jackson Mandago has urged youths across the county to take advantage of the government’s program of strengthening technical training education and acquire requisite skills.
While presiding over a graduation ceremony for 30 students sponsored by the county to pursue firefighting training skills at Morendat Institute of Oil and Gas, Mandago affirmed the county’s support for technical education.
He was categorical that his government has the vision to empower youth through imparting technical skills to fill the huge gap of unskilled labour.
“As a county, we identified the huge potential and expertise that exists in Kenya pipeline and we decided to collaborate so that we have a city that is prepared for the future,” said the Governor.
“We are aspiring to be a city and part of the requirement under the urban cities Act is the question of disaster preparedness, we cannot attain that without well-trained firefighting and disaster management experts,” he observed.
The County has also identified welding as another potential area that required skilled training, having identified the skill gap in the county and the entire country.
“We have offered ourselves to train students in firefighting and even on welding so that we cannot only serve this county but also our region,” he added.
Through this initiative, the county has introduced an education revolving fund to enable needy students aspiring to join technical institutions to get funding so that they later on come employ themselves and even hire others.
“We must work on a plan to reduce foreign debts by ensuring we have our skilled labour with the capacity to handle major projects so that our economy may be revived since monies paid on these projects will be retained in the country as opposed to when foreign companies win tenders,” Mandago said.
By Kiptanui Cherono
