Peace and Cohesion Depend on Dignified Livelihoods
Conference Communique
Preamble
Just under a hundred youths drawn from Machakos, Kitui, Kajiado and Makueni counties have participated in the Vijana Twaweza – Youth for Peace, Cohesion and Dignified Livelihoods Conference held at PCEA Siloam Church, Machakos, on 16th and 17th March 2023.
The Youth Conference was challenged by the scripture recorded in 1 Thessalonians 4: 11
Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business and to work with your hands, just as we told you, so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody.
Recognizing the intractable relationship between livelihoods and peace in society, we now share the following message.
1. Safeguard Peace and Cohesion of the Nation
This Youth Conference recognizes that the greatest challenge facing our nation today is the threat of chaos and militarism due to inherent proclivity of the youth to manipulation by politicians and the elite. While this threat was mitigated by peace messaging during the 2022 General Elections, there is much that remains to be done for sustainable transformation of the society.
Our plea as the youth is that as the youth, we be accorded the opportunities and capacity to reap the dividends of the peace we promoted during the elections. We reiterate our commitment to contribute to a peaceful, just, resilient and sustainable society.
Effective and urgent action must be taken to safeguard dignified livelihoods for the youth for the sake of our common future.
2. Support Dignified Livelihoods for the Youth
This Conference has noted that of the 800,000 youth who enter the job market every year, only 100,000 are absorbed in formal salaried employment. The continued growth of the unemployed youth is a ticking bomb that we as a country must defused. Towards this, we call upon the County governments in our region to support the youth to venture into profitable entrepreneurship. We specifically recommend:
- Allocation of funds for business trainings for the youth
- Subsidize business registration fees for youth-owned enterprises
- Reduction of taxes and levies for young businesses to enable them survive the startup learning period
- Creation of youth business fund for entrepreneurs to access cheap credit and financing
In addition, we urge our county governments to invest in research and training of youth on value addition of our farm produce and mineral resources so that youth transform from job seekers to employers.
On their part, we call upon the national government, faith institutions and other social formation structures to end the glorification of white-collar jobs and dignify entrepreneurship, and value-addition oriented technical work.
3. End Corruption and Injustice
Corruption and a pervasive sense of injustice are an existential threat of our nation. We have grown to a point where Kenyans do not believe that anyone operates within the dictates of the law. We are therefore deeply concerned that the national government has not strongly stated measures to fight corruption and disregard of the law. We need to embrace a process of transforming our social framework so that we value and treasure doing the right thing because it is the right thing to do. Glorification of corruption must come to an end.
Conclusion
In conclusion, we remind our fellow youth that we need to be gainfully engaged so that we have peaceful lives. Let each of us take every opportunity to enhance our skills and knowledge especially on business and entrepreneurship. In this way, we will contribute to the attainment of the prayer we make in the National Anthem:
Natujenge taifa letu, Ee ndio wajibu wetu; Kenya istahili heshima
Tuungane mikono, Pamoja kazini, Kila siku tuwe na shukrani
Signed on this 17th day of March 2023 at PCEA Siloam Church Machakos.
Ev Joel Kulu
Youth Representative, NCCK Lower Eastern Region
Nzembi Nzioka
Regional Manager, NCCK Lower Eastern Region
