Gikaria defends himself as youth accuse him of failing on Kazi Mtaani

Earlier this week, young people from Nakuru Town East took to the streets to protest against the delayed start of the national Kazi Mtaani youth employment programme. They gave tales of desperation, explaining that they had been waiting for jobs under the employment initiative for the better part of four months.

“All we want is food on the table,” said one of them.

"Some of us have resorted to crime to survive,' said another.

This was not the first time that these young people had taken to the streets. Around two months ago, they were protesting about the same issue.

Amidst their cries, they blamed their Member of Parliament, David Gikaria, for the holdup. They said that his inaction had left them jobless and desperate. They also claimed that the programme had only not been implemented in Nakuru Town East.

Mtaa Wangu reached out to the legislator to understand where the challenge lies in initiating Kazi Mtaani in his constituency.

According to Mr Gikaria with the exception of Nairobi County, no other constituency in the country has implemented Kazi Mtaani.

"Nakuru Town East has thousands of unemployed young people. We were only given 490 places for people to work for three months. Therefore, it became challenging to determine the selection criteria for the young people,” he says.

The MP says that this issue has been communicated to the President, who is looking for a tangible solution that will encompass a larger number of young people.

"The money set aside for the programme was insufficient to facilitate the employment of such a large number of young people, so we are waiting for a supplementary budget to address this issue," he says.

The Kazi Mtaani programme was announced by President William Ruto during the Madaraka Day celebrations on June 1, 2025, with a promise to implement it the following week.