Youths benefiting from Ajira programme won't pay Sh10,000, says PS

Youths who will benefit from the Ajira digital training programme will not be required to pay Sh10,000 registration fee, the Information ministry has clarified.

The clarification comes after a section of media outlets reported that the youths will be required to pay the amount as registration fee.

Treasury CS Henry Rotich, while delivering the 2019-20 budget statement in Parliament last week, announced that youths will have to pay Sh10,000 from January 2020 as an alternative to their income tax.

But on Friday ICT PS Jerome Ochieng said only those people who will be earning money from online jobs will be required to pay the amount. More than 600,000 youths are working on digital jobs.

“Those who will not be able to make money from the digital platform will not be compelled to pay,” he said.

The PS added that the money paid will be channelled into an Ajira seed fund to benefit other Ajira youth and innovators.

He spoke in Kisumu during the closing of the Ajira digital basic skills training held at University of Nairobi, Kisumu campus, where more than 600 youths were trained.

Ochieng said the demand is very high, with 2,200 registration received.

He said the creation of employment for the youth is a major policy agenda for the government, hence the decision to come up with Ajira digital programme to introduce young people to the work opportunities available online and provide them with the right tools, awareness, infrastructure, skills, training, mentorship and access to dignified work.

So far, the PS said, more than 2,500 youths have been trained across the country. He said the government aims to directly support one million young Kenyans to find and complete work online.

Ochieng said they have created awareness through training at 31 universities and this year alone, they have trained over 15,000 youths. 

“We have 135 innovation hubs that have been established and I encourage you to visit these hubs and the 63 libraries across the country to access free internet to enable you to access jobs online," he said.

The PS said they are encouraging innovators and entrepreneurs to develop innovations that can be marketed locally and regionally to drive the digital economy.

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