- Uhuru asks the youth to emulate Independence heroes who paid the price to make Kenya free.
- The President asks young people to get to the arena and stop whining for lack of opportunities.
President Uhuru Kenyatta puts a strong case why young people should be ready to become the country's modern heroes.
President Uhuru Kenyatta put a strong case why young people should be ready to become the country's modern heroes.
From blazing the trail in innovations to leadership in the public service, the youth can be part of the journey to transform Kenya, Uhuru said.
However, Uhuru said, this can only be achieved if young people stepped out to make sacrifices.
The President rallied the millions of the country's young people to "do what can be done” and stop focusing on obstacles standing in their way.
The Head of State challenged young people to identify problems and solve them.
"If you solve a problem, heroism and success will naturally follow you," Uhuru said, giving examples of Kenyan innovators who have made it big on the international stage.
He told the youth to work hard and dream big in the world of innovation rather than always complain of lack of opportunities.
Just like the country's founding fathers who were young people when they created Kenya, Uhuru said, the country's youth can develop a new Kenya in their lifetime.
“They (youth) have what it takes to create a new wave of heroism if they get on the arena, prepared to pay the price of dreaming,” the President said at Gusii stadium during Mashujaa Day celebrations.
To show that the young people have a rich history, Uhuru said the makers of this nation were mostly young people.
"If the young veterans of war had not heeded the summons of change, we would not be having Independence today,” Uhuru said.
He said the youth at the time worked closely with a few elder statesmen while the Independence Cabinet and the new administration were dominated by young people.
Uhuru noted that the first draft of Sessional Paper Number 10 of 1965, which became the blueprint vision for the economy, was actually written by a 29-year -old technocrat known as Japheth Shamalla.
“These young men were not extraordinary. They became our Independence heroes because they made more opportunities out of the little that they had been given,” he said.
The speech appeared to offer hope to the millions of disillusioned youth most of whom are unemployed amid growing anger against Uhuru's administration.
Deputy President William Ruto in his 2022 presidential campaigns has lately hit out at the government, saying it has denied young people opportunities to harness their potential.
Ruto has rallied the youth to reject the "dynasties" whom he has accused of controlling political and economic power at the exclusion of the "hustlers."
But the President challenged young people to emulate the veterans of the liberation struggle and be part of the process of building a new Kenya.
Uhuru said that while Kenya has “its good and its bad, its ugly and its sweet”, it will become a nation of angry and disillusioned people if the attention goes to the negative issues.
But the young people who will embrace the positive and the possible will emerge as heroes and "makers of things", he said.