Mombasa,KENYA:Bomu residents in Changamwe sub-county have urged the youth to avoid being misused by self seeking politicians who aim at pushing their agenda as the country heads towards the August polls.
Speaking to Baraka fm on Friday during a community policing sensitization forum at Bomu Chiefs office Erick Kasyoki a local urged the youth to elect leaders based on their development policies towards the general citizenry.
Kasyoki said most of the youth in Mombasa County engage themselves in irrelevant activities due to the rise in unemployment levels and therefore urged the county government to come out with a proper employment strategy in-order to solve the menace.
“Most of the youth in this county engage in baseless activities due to higher unemployment levels. I there urge the county government to formulate a proper employment frame work so that the problem can be sorted out.” He said
He said added that the youth have always found themselves within the loyal hands of politicians and aspirants seeking for political positions in government and urged them youth to focus on the interests of all Kenyans before giving themselves as a cheaper tool to selfish politicians.
On the other hand Jane Mwawughanga, a community health volunteer in the sub county, urged the youth to engage in meaningful activities that will enable live prosperous lives.
She said that the interests of the country are greater than the interest of an individual and therefore urged them to ensure that there is peace during the whole transition period.”The youths should engage themselves in meaningful activities that will enable them to live good lives. We should learn from our past experiences” Jane said.
According to the Kenya Country Report dated 2014 the youth aged between 15 – 34 years old form 35% of the Kenyan population, having the highest unemployment rate at 67%.
The report further adds that over 1 million young people enter into the labour market annually without any skills some having either dropped out of school or completed school and not enrolled in any college.
The report indicates that a further 155,000 join the labour market annually after completing their training in middle level colleges or universities denoting that over 1.3 million new employment places have to be created annually to meet the demand.
The 2014 report further adds that the Kenyan labour market is characterized by inadequate employment opportunities against a large and growing population of unemployed people especially the youth.
As per the report the market of a dual in nature, that presents a small formal sector alongside a large informal sector with over 30% of those on wage employment being casuals.
The report says that youth with primary education are in formal employment at 4%, informal employment at 54%, students at 14% and unemployed at 14%.
Those with secondary education in formal employment at 12%, informal employment at 40%, students at 26%, and unemployed 15%.
This calls for the Kenyan government to create more job opportunities to quickly address the challenge so that the youth will not be engaged in meaningless activities that will keep the security of the nation at stake.
