• The youths were expected to work for a maximum of eight hours from 8am to 4pm, Monday to Friday, every week with the exception of public holidays.
• The work included cleaning drainage lines, garbage collection, cleaning streets, growing trees and rehabilitation of public facilities.
Image: MERCY MUMO
Desperate for employment, at least 1,028,904 youths have in the last eight days registered for the Kazi Mtaani Phase Three programme.
The recruitment which started last Friday is done through the Kazi Mtaani Management System portal.
Data from the State Department of Housing and Urban Development seen by the Star on Friday reveals a daily average of 128,613 people are registering for the programme that is set to kick of in December.
In terms of county registration, 19,053 youths on average per county are registering for the programme daily.
The data also highlights that on average per sub county, 3,597 Kenyans are registering daily.
According to Urban Development PS Charles Hinga, Nairobi county leads with 166,000 youths registered for the programme, followed by Kiambu at 70,600 and Nakuru with 53,500.
Last Friday on the day of the launch, Hinga noted that the system witnessed unprecedented traffic, leading to its crashing.
He also urged persons interested not to be in a rush to register as they had a two week window for the exercise.
"Kindly note, the registration period will not close today. It’s also not first come first served," Hinga announced.
The Kazi Mtaani Management System is a mobile and web-based system developed by the government to register and manage Kazi Mtaani beneficiaries across the country.
The online portal will ensure those interested are registered in a timely, transparent and efficient manner that will be equitable across the board.
The web application will be used to register, process the data received from the mobile application, payments and reports.
On the other hand, the mobile application will be used to collect workers, clock in and clock out and project data.
The PS also urged the public to be aware of conmen who were duping the youth to pay in order to register.
President Uhuru Kenyatta last month during Mashujaa Day promised that the National Hygiene Programme, popularly known as Kazi Mtaani, would be continued because it had positively impacted the lives of hundreds of thousands of youths.
The third phase is said to robust and will be implemented in over 900 informal settlements across all 47 counties.
PS Hinga also revealed that the youths have also received extensive training on life skills such as setting up businesses, HIV/Aids prevention, mental health and counselling, and basic skills in masonry and carpentry.
Last month, it was announced that at least 3,400 youths will be enrolled in the Kazi Mtaani Phase Three programme to support malaria control efforts across the county.
The youths are going to dedicate their time on a daily basis to support malaria control efforts across the country.
"The Kazi Mtaani Phase 3 is expected to be bigger and better. The expanded Phase will equip the youth with skills aimed at creating job opportunities as well as enable them to engage in self-employment in fields such as plumbing, masonry, carpentry and many more," he added.
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 has put food on the tables of hundreds of thousands of Kenyans and enabled thousands of youths to start small thriving businesses.
It targeted residents of informal settlements who are above 18 years of age and below 35 years who are unable to find work due to the disruption of normal economic activity by the Covid-19 pandemic.
The programme 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 8am to 4pm, Monday to Friday, every week with the exception of public holidays.
The work 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 youths from the automatic deductions.