The government has defended its plan to commercialise the National Youth Service (NYS), saying the move will ease the financial burden on taxpayers and enhance the institution’s sustainability.
Appearing before the Senate on Wednesday, Public Service Cabinet Secretary Geoffrey Ruku said training youth under the current NYS model costs the government about KSh 10 billion annually. He explained that through commercialisation, the cost could be reduced by KSh 4 billion if the plan is effectively implemented.
“The government cannot continue to fully depend on exchequer financing to train the youth. The commercialization initiative will help raise about KSh 4 billion annually to support training and operations,” said Ruku.
The proposal involves establishing the National Youth Service Enterprises and Services Company, which will act as NYS’s commercial arm. According to the CS, the new company will enable the institution to fully utilise its vast resources to generate revenue, create employment opportunities, and enhance its long-term sustainability.
Currently, NYS trains about 18,000 young people annually at a cost of KSh 10 billion. The government targets to increase this number to 100,000 youth once the commercialization plan takes off.
However, senators raised concerns about the viability and justification of the plan. They questioned whether commercialization would compromise the institution’s core mandate of empowering the youth and how it would address the growing challenge of unemployment.
“There are fears that turning NYS into a commercial entity might deviate from its original purpose of youth empowerment,” one senator noted during the session.
In response, CS Ruku assured lawmakers that the institution would maintain its training focus while strengthening governance and accountability mechanisms. He also pledged to curb corruption within NYS, citing the ongoing investigation by the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) into the loss of KSh 2 billion.
“The government is committed to ensuring that every shilling at NYS is accounted for. The EACC is already investigating the recent case of financial mismanagement,” he said.
Ruku added that the registration of the new NYS company is currently underway at the Attorney General’s office, marking the first step toward implementing the commercialization plan.
If approved, the initiative is expected to transform NYS into a self-sustaining entity capable of generating its own income while expanding youth training and employment opportunities across the country.
