The National Youth Service has announced a plan to a pay 10-month allowance to 56,000 youths under the Youth Empowerment Programmme.
Director General Matilda Sakwa on Tuesday said the allowance rated at Sh21,000 each is set to clear accumulated dues for the past 10 months after the programme was suspended.
Sakwa said each service man and woman under the programe was allocated a Sh2,100 monthly allowance.
She said the institution had failed to pay the cohorts their dues after budget allocations were reduced following numerous scandals.
This has been the major challenge since I was appointed to this institution. The budget cuts affected us badly but now the president intervened and the Treasury has released the money," she said.
She said some Sh1.3 billion has been set aside through supplementary budget to facilitate the payments.
Sakwa said the the 10, 000 new recruits joining the service will also benefit from a monthly allowance.
She said a total of Sh3.5 billion has been released to settle payments of all the bills by the end of this financial year.
Suppliers had cut services at the institution demanding Sh9 billion but Sakwa said the amount will only be paid to suppliers without audit queries.
Last year, President Uhuru Kenyatta told new Youth Permanent Secretary Francis Otieno to "clean up the mess" at the NYS.
"And you, Owino, I know that you are familiar with NYS challenges and it is my hope that with you there, we will be able to resolve those problems and restore the programmes," Uhuru said.
The President said the intention of the National Youth Service was to enrich the lives of Kenyan youths and not to make others rich.
"We expect the highest degree both of integrity and loyalty
to Kenyans. NYS' intention was not to enrich a few people but to change
the lives of young people," he said.
