The national government will recruit 30,000 youths for the National Youth Service (NYS) this year, Trade Cabinet Secretary Moses Kuria has announced.
Kuria has said the first phase of the recruitment will be conducted this month while the second will be in July.
Last year, the government recruited 20,000 youths, 10,000 in January and another 10,000 in July.
Kuria said the president has issued a directive to have 30 per cent of all recruitments in the disciplined forces sourced from NYS.
“Don’t think this is the NYS that existed before. If you miss out on the chance to be recruited, don’t go after your political leaders to ask them for help to be recruited in the forces,” he said.
The CS said recruits will be trained four-six months before those who will qualify for the various forces, including the army, the police, Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) and Kenya Forest Service (KFS) are picked.
To rid the recruitment process of corruption, Kuria said interested youths will be required to register through E-Citizen once the recruitments are announced.
They will then use the registration numbers to access recruitment venues.
“This will help track the number of youths who registered against the number picked. NYS is the only department where all 1,450 wards in the country will benefit”.
The CS said that once recruited, the youths will benefit from employment opportunities both locally and abroad.
He said he has toured various countries seeking job opportunities for youths and that this week, he will be flagging off a group of 200 youths, 100 to Israel and another 100 to Kuwait.
“Joining NYS is a one-way traffic. There will be no going back to the village. Either you get a job opportunity locally or abroad,” he said.
Kuria further appealed to Kenyans to give the Kenya Kwanza administration time to work despite the economic hardships being experienced.
“Life is hard but I know you still have faith in Kenya Kwanza. A pitiful doctor does not treat. We have to get things in order and it will take time”.
