Isiolo woman rep says county left out youth in talent centre establishment

Isiolo Woman Representative Rehema Jaldesa has hit out at the county government for not involving the youth from across the county in establishment of an innovation centre in Isiolo town aimed at identifying and nurturing talent.

The legislator claimed the county has the trend of involving youths from Isiolo Sub-County and leaving out those from Garbatulla and Merti areas in key decisions involving young people.

A section of youths recently complained that they were not involved in the planning process ahead of last week’s launch of the centre, which was graced by ICT and Youth CAS Nadia Abdalla and governors Wycliffe Oparanya (Kakamega) and Alfred Mutua (Machakos) among other dignitaries.

Ms Jaldesa said youths drawn from all the 10 wards should have been involved in decision making, planning and implementation of the project.

“The county government has the habit of taking youths for granted. In most cases, those from Garbatulla and Merti are left out in decision making,” said Ms Jaldesa, adding that the resulting frustrations are pushing young people to drug and substance abuse among other vices.

Private building

The woman rep took issue with the establishment of the centre in a private building in the populated Isiolo town. She claimed that the building is owned by a senior county government official.

“How can an innovation centre be set up in town where there are a lot of disruptions and at a building owned by a county government official?” she posed.

Ms Jaldesa said for the project to be sustainable, it should have been established away from town where there is a conducive learning environment.

Addressing journalists in Isiolo town Thursday, the lawmaker lamented that none of the MPs from the region was invited to the launch of the centre, maintaining that all leaders must be part and parcel of the project.

She asked donors to ensure that funding is done in a fair and transparent manner so that there is prudent use of the resources, noting that she had written to various donors over the same.

“We (leaders) have given donors the goodwill but we cannot see any complete project yet we keep seeing on television and reading on newspapers that the county has received funding,” the county MP noted.

Not invited

The youths, who were among those facilitated by Governor Mohamed Kuti’s administration for various courses at the Kenya School of Government in Embu, claimed that none of them was invited to the launch event and that they learnt about it on the material day.

They questioned the criteria used in selecting the attendees and maintained that those who spoke on their behalf during the event were not their representatives.

The innovation centre was established through a partnership between the Isiolo County government, KSG and other development partners to harness talents for national development.

Many youths in the county are threatened with depression for lack of jobs and could easily get lured into joining terror groups to earn a living but if the centre’s full potential is fully utilised, it will make them fully engaged and informed of government job opportunities.

Governor Kuti recently maintained that the selection process for the first batch of 50 beneficiaries who will start learning in 2021 will be fair and transparent and that the youths will be picked from all the county’s wards.