President William Ruto has urged church leaders to collaborate with his administration to find solutions to the country's unemployment challenge.
Speaking during a meeting with bishops, pastors, and evangelists from the Federation of Evangelical and Indigenous Christian Churches of Kenya on Wednesday, Ruto said they should repel the need to incite young people instead.
“Leaders must resist the urge to incite the youth. Instead, we must work together to find lasting solutions to the challenge of unemployment,” he said at the State House, Nairobi.
His remarks come a few months after some church leaders made statements that seemingly supported the Gen Z-led protests in the country.
They also called for peace even as young people expressed their grievances.
The President, however, said his administration has already made deliberate and intentional interventions to create jobs.
“Labour mobility has enabled 400,000 young Kenyans to secure employment abroad in the past two years… Here at home, 320,000 young people are fully engaged through the Affordable Housing Programme.
“Another 180,000 are earning a livelihood in digital jobs in Jitume Labs at our technical colleges and Tatu City Special Economic Zone. Establishment of digital hubs in our 1,450 wards is underway.”
Ruto said his administration has also recruited 76,000 teachers, and an additional 24,000 will be recruited by January 2026.
This is the largest teacher recruitment drive in our country’s history.
It is not the first time Ruto has asked the church leaders to support his administration.
In addition to regular meetings with various groups of church leaders, the President emphasises that the church has a crucial role to play in the country's leadership.
“As a government, we acknowledge the work of the church and we respect the place of worship. I want to assure that the place of worship will not be undermined,” he stated.
“We are going to partner with the church in all areas of our development programmes. We also want to thank you for the contribution in education and health sector,” he added.
