At least 300,000 youths have been facilitated to secure digital jobs over the past three years, ranging from online freelancing and digital training to broadcasting and telecommunications, Principal Secretary for Broadcasting and Telecommunications Stephen Isaboke has revealed.
Speaking to the press during a visit to the Jitume Digital Hub at Kisii National Polytechnic, PS Isaboke noted that 400 youths were currently benefiting from digital skills training at the hub, which is equipped with 100 computers.
“This Hub, which runs four shifts of 100 learners each daily, is one of the standard digital hubs at various stages of development across Kisii County. A Center of Excellence is also under construction at Ogembo town in Gucha Sub County,” he said.
PS Isaboke added that other digital jobs accessible to trained youth include business process outsourcing and digital marketing. He emphasized that the government, under the Digital Superhighway and Creative Economy pillar, is rolling out 100,000 kilometres of fibre optic cable, establishing 1,450 digital hubs at the ward level, and providing 25,000 free Wi-Fi hotspots.
He reaffirmed the government’s commitment to conclusively resolve youth unemployment in the country and accelerating grassroots development through the NYOTA project.
Under the initiative, 3,820 youths from Kisii County, and a total of about 8,800 beneficiaries from Kisii, Migori, and Nyamira counties, received financial support during the NYOTA start-up capital disbursement launch on Thursday.
“The projects align with President William Ruto’s Bottom-Up Economic Transformation Agenda (BETA), which prioritizes uplifting those at the lowest level of the economic pyramid,” Isaboke said.
He added: “There is no other bottom you can touch other than young people who never went beyond Form Four. They are many and deserve a future and hope. What we witnessed is proof that the government does not just talk; it acts.”
By Mercy Osongo and Alfred Misheba
