Bomet County Commissioner Ms. Beverly Opwora has urged youths enlisted in the third phase of the Kazi Mtaani programme to strictly follow the stipulated working structures or risk being discontinued.
Ms. Opwora was addressing some of the 5,000 prospective who were intending to join the third phase of the programme from within the county in Bomet Green stadium during the launch of the third phase of the National Hygiene Programme Monday.
“The government has embarked on the third phase of the National Hygiene programme known by many as Kazi Mtaani, and in our county here today, we have launched it officially. The programme is targeting youths and vulnerable people from our community,” explained Ms. Opwora.
“Those of you who will benefit from the programme are advised to follow instructions and government directives to the letter because we are not going to allow cases of people reporting to work while intoxicated with alcohol and missing from daily reporting while receiving payments from the government,” she warned.
The effectiveness and implementation of the programme entails coordination through the County Implementation Committee.
According to the administrator, four thousand youths from the five sub-counties in the county were expected to be enlisted under the programme.
This is an increase of about two thousand prospects to the initial number of opportunities given to the county in phase two where vulnerable families from the informal settlement of Bomet Central sub-county were targeted.
Beneficiaries of the programme will also be trained in social and economic life skills which range from entrepreneurship skills among others to help them better their lives.
The County chief affirmed that youths who would be engaged in the programme would be educated on health measures and regulations in order to curb the spread of Covid-19 which is slowly regaining back.
Ms. Opwora also urged youths to desist from using illicit brews which have affected the lives of young negatively in the society.
“We are aware our youths have been engaging in abuse of illicit brew and other drugs like bhang. This is as a result of lack of employment, but the government has implemented programmes like this to engage them and enable them to make a living out of Kazi Mtaani. We want to rehabilitate them, and it’s high time we work alongside each other to better their lives,” noted the County Commissioner.
“This programme will be around for a fixed time. I encourage youths to make good use of funds they will earn in order to do constructive and viable business after the program is offered,” Ms. Opwora advised.
The first and the second phase of the programme saw 2307 youths benefit from the programme.
Most of these beneficiaries worked in government institutions where around 200,000 seedlings were planted in Chepalungu forest by Kazi Mtaani youths in the efforts to rehabilitate part of the 800,00 HA forest.
The initiative was inaugurated by President Uhuru Kenyatta last year and its main objective was to provide a form of income for daily or casual protection for youths whose prospects for daily income were disrupted by containment policies put in place to curb the spread of Covid-19.
By Lamech Arisa
