Lack of employment has deepened cases of mental health and drug abuse among the youths, a Kenyan born-US based philanthropist has revealed.
Rop who was speaking in Kapsabet town said youth joblessness remains a big challenge that Kenyan leaders must address in order to reduce the soaring cases of mental health.
He regretted that unemployed youths’ hopelessness has driven them into heavy consumption of alcohol and drugs.
“Joblessness has pushed them into hopelessness as we saw during recent demonstrations and become reason for drug abuse, smoking marijuana and drinking alcohol,” Rop said.
He said the National and County Governments should fund thousands of unemployed youths who graduate from universities and colleges to initiate investment projects.
“I pray and hope that the National and County Governments can set some money aside to help them have some money for investment because these young people are very bright and can even develop apps that we can use in phones,” he suggested.
If engaged meaningfully, Rop believes that “our educated youths can solve many tech challenges experienced in many sectors in our economy.”
Rop, a mental health Doctor suggested that the Kenyan population comprise approximately seventy percent youths who he noted cannot be ignored adding: “We need to support these youths, we need to have dialogue, and we need to put them on a platform, let’s talk to them and let us see exactly their proposals on governance.”
He noted that youths who are graduating from school and colleges should be prepared and empowered to become productive members of the society as opposed to a situation where they are ignored and idle. “They are now key stakeholders and we need them to be involved in community progression, they need to be productive,” he added.
He thanked the government for the efforts to address increasing mental health challenges in the country but observed that more mental health counseling experts should be hired to help in solving cases of relationships breakups majorly affecting young people.
He regretted that cases of youths committing suicide due to broken relationships are on the rise which calls for the two levels of governments to take action. “I think we need to put more money on mental health, have counsellors, and have people who can talk to them,” Rop observed.
Rop who is the founder of HOKIL Foundation has constructed state of the art Hokil Resource Centre in Mosoriot, aimed at equipping the youths with tech knowledge useful in applying online jobs.
As a way of giving back to the society, Rop appealed to Kenyans working abroad to change their villages by sponsoring bright and needy students and also initiating projects that can create employment to millions of Kenyan jobless youths.
By Geoffrey Satia
