As the August 9 General Election approaches, young people in Nyeri have said they will settle for nothing short of the deputy governor’s seat in the next administration.
Led by former Senate aspirant Steve Nderi and Ann Caroline Wambui, they maintained that they would negotiate under the United for Nyeri Alliance youth caucus for their demands to be addressed.
“The youth make up at least 70 per cent of the voters in this county yet we do not have one of our own in leadership to look into our issues,” Mr Nderi said.
“We made a mistake negotiating after the elections last time. This time we say that if (governor candidates) want our votes, they should pick one of us as a running mate.”
They also want to be given at least 40 per cent of positions in the next county government, from executive committee members to directors, sub-county administrators and others.
“These demands are not that hard to achieve. It just requires goodwill by the leadership. If we want things to happen, they will happen. It is time for youth and women to be in government,” Ms Wambui said.
Time for young people
They maintained that it is time for young people to form the county government and run it or negotiate with aspirants to get their interests incorporated into programmes.
“If they do not want to negotiate with the youth, then the youth will form a government. We will go for the governor’s seat and vote for our youth in the assembly,” Mr Nderi said.
With young people in leadership, they said, their issues would be addressed, including the creation of jobs and negotiating for better services and conditions for them.
“Only the wearer knows where the shoe pinches, which means that only a young person can properly articulate our plight and fight for them to get help, and we need one at the decision-making table,” said Techno Githinji, an aspirant for the Nyeri Town parliamentary seat.
Mr Githinji called for the completion of the Dedan Kimathi University of Technology Science and Technology Park (STP), which he said would create employment for young people.
“We have identified a big problem in Nyeri. There are very few direct investments made in the county, which means few employment opportunities have been made,” he said.
“But if the STP is completed as soon as possible, it will create very many jobs and the youths will benefit greatly.”
Mobilise young voters
They pledged to mobilise young voters to support the United for Nyeri Alliance as well as register to vote, noting that many young people have not registered.
“We understand that many people have neither collected their IDs nor registered as voters because they may feel frustrated, but we urge them to register and vote for leaders who have their interests at heart,” Mr Nderi said.
Makara wa Wambui, a local politician, said: “This is not a request. We will only back whoever supports the youth.”
His words were echoed by Charles Ndegwa, the chairman of the bodaboda association in Nyeri, who urged young people to work together and avoid being used by politicians to cause violence.
“In Nyeri, we have 28,000 riders and we each interact with at least 10 people, which gives us a very wide reach. We refuse to be used and given empty promises and that is why we want young leaders,” he said. BY DAILY NATION