Anita Nkirote, a girl from Tharaka Nithi County, Mara sub-location in Gitombani Village while speaking on behalf of Mount Kenya youth has said that the country needs a more stable economic policy that will take it to the next level and she doesn’t believe wheelbarrows are it.
She said the IEBC is in the process of registering voters and 70% are young people.
According to Nkirote, anyone aspiring and coming to the mountain must acclimatize.
“It’s not a journey of running around, it’s a journey of a thousand miles and you must sit down and acclimatize at the table. And what are our young people saying? Young people are saying hatutamika 2022. That’s our clarion call,” said Nkirote.
“One of the issues affecting Mount Kenya youth today as we speak is alcoholism. We all know that a lot of illicit, drugs are being sold in Mount Kenya. This has bedeviled our young men to an extent that even some of them are not getting married.
“As we speak today, I’m not married, I’ve looked around in Tharaka Nithi County, Meru, and it’s a big issue. And as a result, we’ve got issues of mental health. Young men are committing suicide daily. We are seeing every day, these issues and they are being articulated very well by even the DCI.
“You see very very funny stories talking about alcoholism. And if you can do an analysis, you will see clearly that mostly it’s from the Mount Kenya region. So issues of alcoholism mental health honorables, are some of the issues that affect Mount Kenya youth.
“Secondly, and I believe this another issue cutting across is unemployment. The issue of unemployment comes as a result of lack of economic expansion. Our economy is not expanding at a fast rate. As young graduates, we are talking of issues of internships and mentorships.
“While internships work very well for young leaders who are graduates. older graduates require some sort of mentorship and today, as we speak, I remember the likes of Tom Mboya were being included in leadership at an age of 27 years. What are we saying? Let’s not just ask for experience, let’s take the hand of young capable leaders and include them in leadership.
“Young people must be included in leadership and they will gain experience at that particular point in time,” said Nkirote.
Nkirote said another issue, still related to economic employment and financial inclusivity will not be wheelbarrows. She said the country needs more structures, more stable economic policies and we have them.
