A group of current and former university students has come together in a forum to popularize the Big Four Agenda at the grassroots across the 47 counties.
The Inter-County Youths Consultative Forum (ICYCF), which draws representation from public and private universities, seeks to sensitize communities on two of the Big Four Agenda - universal health care and food security.
Manufacturing and cheap housing are the other two items that make up the agenda.
“We have obliged ourselves to package the agenda in a way that resonates and is comprehensible with the local citizens,” ICYCF’s Vihiga youth leader Edwin Kegoli said.
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He spoke on Sunday during a media briefing at the Bazaar, Nairobi.
Kegoli said they will from September 4 work with trained but unemployed nurses through the “Tiba Mlangoni Initiative” to reach out to the elderly and those unable to make it to hospitals.
“This is as a result of revelations that a considerable number of people are ailing silently in homes in villages without proper advice on medication,” Kegoli said.
The group also plans to sensitize locals on the importance of registering with the NHIF for ease of access to health services.
“We however behove the government to subsidize the monthly charges by Sh200 especially for the youth and women in the villages for it to be more appealing to them,” Kegoli said.
The minimum monthly NHIF contribution for the unemployed is Sh500.
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On food security, ICYCF plans to use the skills acquired in university to advice small scale farmers on the best farming methods as well as help them access training through agricultural firms such as One Acre Fund.
Kegoli urged the government to facilitate the expansion of the fund to ensure it reaches many farmers.
“ICYCF also asks the government to modernize sugar plants, facilitate payment of farmers’ dues and broaden the production capacities of the mills in order to create employment opportunities and increase its tax base,” he said.
ICYCF Secretary General Fred Ouru, however, bemoaned the runaway corruption in the country saying it poses the risk of scuttling the Big Four Agenda.
He said the president should not relent on his fight against the vice lest it ends up soiling his legacy.
“When the Deputy President [William Ruto] said that he is ready for lifestyle audit, it stopped at that point. Even the media stopped covering it. Lifestyle audit should cut across all government departments, ministries and organizations,” he said.
The group plans to hold a funds drive on September 12 dubbed 'Big 4 Night' to facilitate the activities lined up.
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