At least 3,400 youths will be enrolled in the Kazi Mtaani Phase Three programme to support malaria control efforts across the county following President Uhuru Kenyatta's directive.
Senior Advisor at African Leaders Malaria Alliance Willis Akhwale on Wednesday announced that the youths will be deployed from 16 counties that are highly burdened by malaria.
“President Uhuru Kenyatta has directed that the youths involved in malaria activities in the country be incorporated in the Kazi Mtaani Initiative,” he said.
During the Mashujaa celebrations last week, Uhuru directed the National Treasury to allocate Sh10 billion to the Kazi Mtaani programme.
He noted that the allocation was necessary due to the success of the programme and its effect in enhancing opportunities for the youth across the country.
Akhwale explained that the youths are going to dedicate their time on a daily basis to support malaria control efforts across the country.
Once enrolled, the youths will be entitled to a stipend every month.
Last weekend, Principal Secretary, State Department of Housing and Urban Development Charles Hinga had highlighted that the Phase Three Kazi Mtaani project will be bigger and better.
He added that those who criticized the first two phases of the project on grounds that it viewed the youth as only capable of doing manual jobs were in for a rude shock.
Kazi Mtaani is a national initiative that was launched in April 2020 to cushion the most vulnerable but able-bodied citizens living in informal settlements from the effects and response strategies of the Covid -19 pandemic.
The programme, which started with a budget of Sh10 billion, employed 283,210 youths in 900 informal settlements across the 47 counties.
It targeted residents of informal settlements who are above eighteen years of age and below 35 years basically the youth who are unable to find work due to the disruption of normal economic activity by the Covid-19 pandemic.
The program has made a great impact on the youths lives as it has transformed their lives in all dimensions by creating job opportunities and this has helped reduce the crime rate in society.
The youths were expected to work for a maximum of eight hours from 8 am to 4 pm, Monday to Friday, every week exception of being on public holidays.
The works included cleaning drainage lines, garbage collection, cleaning streets, growing trees and rehabilitation of public facilities.
The beneficiaries operate on two shifts, each working 11 days a month.
Each youth earns Sh455 daily while supervisors take home Sh505 each per day, according to the State Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Payment is via M-Pesa only after Safaricom waived the recovery of Fuliza loans to save indebted youths from the automatic recovery of loans from the earnings.
The Government extended the Kazi Mtaani in March after President Uhuru Kenyatta authorised the extension following an appeal by beneficiaries.
The President had asked Kenya's development partners to support public programs that directly benefit wananchi such as the 'Kazi Mtaani' youth employment initiative.
In May, the Government announced that the programme was to take a break to allow for the closure of the last financial year that ended on June 30, 2021.
Edited by D Tarus
