The Kenya Kwanza administration has created 750,000 jobs in three sectors through initiatives targeted at curbing unemployment in the country, President William Ruto has announced.
The head of state said the government has created the jobs in the affordable housing programme, digital space and export of labour.
“I want to tell the young people of Kenya that you have an opportunity in our programmes - housing, digital jobs and export of labour - to have a job so that you can get an income,” Ruto said.
But the statistics were immediately rebuffed by opposition politicians who described his comments as "hot air" and a continuation of the "lies".
"Those jobs, for lack of a better word, are hot air. That I can bet on," said Union of Kenya Civil Servants secretary general and Nyatike MP Tom Odege.
Speaking in Meru where he launched various projects on Thursday, Ruto stated that some 130,000 jobs have so far been created in the affordable housing programme.
In the digital space, his administration has created 120,000 jobs.
“We have already negotiated another 500,000 jobs in export of labour. That is our clear plan,” he said, challenging the opposition to give alternatives.
Ruto said those employed in the housing projects are spread across various subsectors “from architects to engineers to masons, plumbers, electricians and all other trades including in steel, cement manufacturing and many other areas of transport.”
However, the President’s statistics were not backed by any report or research done by any state agency or independent source.
The latest economic survey shows that in the whole of 2022, some 816,600 new jobs were created in the entire economy.
The formal sector created 117, 700 jobs while the rest were created in the informal sector.
On digital jobs, the President said the state has secured online jobs for thousands of Kenyans who are leveraging the ICT hubs established by the government across the 290 constituencies.
He said the government has amended the National Government – Constituency Development Fund Act to allow a percentage of the funds to go towards establishment of the hubs.
“In every ward, we shall have an ICT hub were these youths will go. I will bring computers,” he said.
His administration has already secured deals with Germany, US, France and other countries to have Kenyans work for their companies digitally from here.
“I heard those people from the opposition trying to ask me how I have planned jobs for our youths,” the President said.
“I want to tell them that this is the administration that has a deliberate and intentional plan on creating jobs in Kenya.”
The government has been installing free Wi-Fi in public places, including markets and social places, to enable youths to exploit opportunities online.
Ruto revealed that he has engaged several countries and sealed a deal for export of 500,000 Kenyans to travel overseas for work.
“This is the only time in the history of Kenya that a government has clarity on how jobs will be created for the young people of our nation,” he said.
But Vihiga Senator Godfrey Osotsi dismissed the President’s statistics as "yet another propaganda" by the regime to hoodwink Kenyans.
Contrary to the President’s assertions, the opposition senator said, many Kenyans have in fact lost jobs due to bad tax policies that have seen many companies close shop in the country.
“We have economic indicators that tell us the truth, not roadside declarations by the President. Creating 750,000 jobs would have an impact on the economy, but we can’t see that,” he said.
He challenged the President to disclose the nature of the jobs created, companies that have created them and countries that have offered jobs to Kenyans.
The Ruto administration has embarked on a massive housing programme across the country in a bid to not only reduce the housing shortage but also create jobs and boost manufacturing.
The state targets to build at least 200,000 units every year and create thousands of jobs in the process.
However, the housing plan has been severely criticised by the opposition and other critics after the state introduced a mandatory dedication of 1.5 per cent of employees’ salaries as housing levy fund.
Last year, the High Court declared the housing levy fund unconstitutional but gave the government a grace period to realign the levy with the law.
“That levy against persons in formal employment with the exclusion of other non-formal employees is without justification, discriminatory, irrational, arbitrary and in violation of Articles 27, 201 of the Constitution,” the court ruled.
Consequently, the government has moved to present a bill in an attempt to rescue the fund and the entire programme.
On Tuesday, the National Assembly Housing Committee conducted public participation forums on the Bill that also targets non-salaried Kenyans for the levy.
On Thursday, Ruto maintained that he would not allow any of his programmes, including housing, to be sabotaged by cartels he said were corrupting courts to derail his plans.
“And we are not going to be destructed, derailed and sabotaged because these young people must get jobs. This plan must succeed because it is providing jobs to millions of young Kenyans,” he said.
The President has in recent days drawn criticism after he attacked ‘corrupt’ court officials he claimed were derailing his programme.
The attack on the Judiciary came after the President suffered back-to-back blows as the courts stopped his programmes and policies, including the housing project.
In November last year, Ruto said the government would be sending about 5,000 youths every week abroad to work there.
The President said he secured the jobs through his many trips abroad whose value to Kenyans was questioned by critics.
“When I go for foreign trips, I don't go for the purpose of tourism but for the benefit of Kenyans, as that is why I was elected,” he said.
Last month, the Ministry of Labour said the country was set to send about 1,500 farm workers to Israel on a three-year contract.
The deal, according to Labour Principal Secretary Shadrack Mwadime, would attract a net income of Sh240,000 per month.
However, the opposition scathingly attacked the government move to send Kenyans out for work instead of providing opportunities for them locally.
“Young people with new skills and knowledge that we need are being exported as the government cannot create jobs yet the government sees it as an achievement,” opposition chief Raila Odinga said last December.
“It is the responsibility of the government to create jobs in the country, not to look for jobs outside,” he added.
“We have a whole President going out there looking for jobs for Kenyans, something is wrong. Today, our people are scrambling to leave the country.”