By Betty Luke
Young people in Isiolo have unveiled discussion forums aimed at sensitizing their colleagues on different issues, of concern to them, around governance both in the national and county governments.
The initiative dubbed ‘Youth Kikao’ that kick-started on Friday seeks to offer young people a platform to gain knowledge on different issues including policy-making, budget processes and allocation and the roles of elected leaders among others.
According to youth leaders spearheading the initiative, the move was informed by the conversations surrounding the Finance Bill 2024 that was recently suspended by President William Ruto.
Apart from knowledge sharing, young people also hope to adequately engage public officers in different departments to not only remind them of their mandate but also keep them on toes on service delivery.
“Conversations around the finance bill 2024 have revealed that young people in Kenya can successively push for changes on different issues only if they are well equipped with knowledge. Through the forums, we hope to change the narrative that political discussions are only for the aged,” noted Ms Wanjiru Mburu.
Ms Mburu lamented that for a long time, political leaders had taken advantage of the ignorance of the young people by failing to perform their duties as expected.
Her sentiments were echoed by Widsom Kizito who said it was sad that some of the young people were not aware of different roles of different politicians and therefore unable to air their concerns correctly.
“You hear someone calling out the MCA for issues that are constitutionally not under him. We want to ensure people understand the mandate of every leader so that while defending issues they can do so from an informed point of view,” he said.
The weekly forums also seek to equip the group with knowledge of mechanisms of holding to account public officers.
“Sometimes you hear the youth claiming that someone is mishandling their money but they cannot explain the amount of money, who is embezzling and what the money is meant for. We wish to address such issues,” added Mr Kizito.
Gender activist Virginia Wanjiru said they would engage the elected leaders to ensure issues that need input from the residents are well addressed to avoid escalation as witnessed during the anti-Finance Bill protests.
“If citizens had an opportunity to give their input into the bill early enough, no one would have gone to the streets. With such forums, we will be able to submit our input,” she said.
The group has urged other youths to join them to help build a vibrant movement that will champion the interests of the young people.
