Barack Obama, the former President of U.S, has urged the government to involve youths in governance with the aim of solving challenges the country is facing. He assured Kenyans that the country is heading along the right path. This is in reference to the March 9th handshake between President Uhuru Kenyatta and Former Prime minister Raila Odinga.
While speaking at Kogelo village in Siaya County during his trip to Kenya, he stated that through the truce between the duo, Kenya has registered a great improvement in setting up governance structures that would help it handle challenges that had made it lag behind. The former president further urged the president to intensify the fight against corruption.
Obama was in Kogelo, his late father’s homeland, to inaugurate Sauti Kuu Vocational Centre founded by his half-sister Dr Auma Obama. He insisted that the youth should be involved in pursuit for good governance so that it can help resolve challenges facing Kenya.
“We now have a new Constitution. We also have a president and a major opposition leader who have pledged to build bridges and have made specific commitments to work together. So what we see in Kenya is a part of an emergent more confident and more self-reliant Africa.”
He further stated that the main goal of Sauti Kuu Foundation is to empower the youth to be self-reliant and later have a direct positive impact in the communities as it makes them productive, able to determine their future lives and reduces over dependency.
Dr Auma who described the youth as an untapped resource, which has been neglected noted that the foundation will build talent among young people and provide them with opportunities for training in order to be self-reliant.
“People worry about having so many young people in Africa, joblessness. These people are opportunities and not problems. All we need is to create an opportunity for them,” she said adding that her project, was aimed at providing opportunities for the youth in the rural areas.
