- The youths say that their efforts to get opportunities from the assistant chief's office have hit a brick wall.
- The Kazi Mtaani initiative is meant to cushion youths living in informal settlements in counties worst-hit by Covid-19.
Youths living with disability in Korogocho claim they are discriminated against in Kazi Mtaani, the new job creation initiative rolled out recently by the government.
"We, the youth living with disability, always have double trouble. Even when we are qualified, we end up not being considered because of our condition," Maryann Ndila, 21, said at Light and Hope Centre Korogocho on Monday.
Ndila, who is a mentor of youths living with disability, said their efforts to get opportunities from the assistant chief's office had hit a brick wall.
"Every time we seek opportunities, it gets hard as we are either unable to access the tall buildings that do not support our mobility or we are denied a chance," she said.
The Kazi Mtaani initiative is meant to cushion youths living in informal settlements in counties worst-hit by Covid-19.
It was launched by President Uhuru Kenyatta on April 25 and had by the end of May employed over 26,000 youths in slums in eight counties.
The youths are involved in urban hygiene and sanitation works in 23 slums countrywide.
The labour-intensive public works programme is set to benefit at least 10,600 youths in Korogocho, Mathare, Kibera and Mukuru.
The beneficiaries are paid twice a week through mobile money transfers for daily work.
They collect garbage, clear bushes, unclog drainages and clean, fumigate and disinfect access paths and streets.
On Tuesday, Labour Cabinet Secretary Simon Chelugui disbursed Sh4.4 billion to the vulnerable including persons living with disability to combat the effects of Covid-19.
Persons living with disability are set to benefit from a technology hub to be set up in the country.
Edited by Henry Makori