Plans are underway to build a Sh300 million youth empowerment centre in Mathira Constituency, Nyeri county.
MP Rigathi Gachagua on Sunday said the centre is meant to address the challenges facing the youth.
He named challenges like unemployment, alcoholism, drugs and substances abuse among others.
He said five acres have been identified on which the public has agreed to put up the centre.
The facility, he said, will be funded using NGCDF at Sh150 million in three yearly tranches of Sh50 million for his remaining time as a first-term MP.
Another Sh150,000 will be from other partners, he said.
“We have already started reaching out to donors because we intend to raise about Sh300 million,” he said.
“This is what I want to be my legacy.”
He spoke at Karindundu in the constituency during public participation attended by about 3,000 young people meant to discuss the centre’s construction.
He said the facility will have a recording studio, gymnasium, a social hall, a wedding garden, a counselling centre and a VCT centre.
It will also have a place for indoor games such as table tennis, badminton and a basketball court among others.
The centre will include an ICT hub where people can access computers connected to the internet to work online.
“This is because if we don’t make this intervention, we shall continue losing our youths to alcohol."
The MP said youths go to watch European and World Cup football matches in bars where they are tempted to get intoxicated with alcohol.
The centre, he said, will be alcohol and tobacco-free so young people can visit and use their energy, sharpen their skills and spend their time responsibly.
Edited by R.Wamochie
