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Youth deserve better than wheelbarrows, says Raila

Tuesday, September 7th, 2021 21:23 | By
ODM Leader Raila Odinga when he hosted a delegation of Nairobi US Embassy officials led by Eric Kneedler, Chargé d’Affaires at his Capitol Hill office. Photo/EMMANUEL WANSON

Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) leader Raila Odinga yesterday tore into Deputy President William Ruto’s bottom-up economic model.

 In a series of tweets posted on his official twitter account, Raila said he does not prescribe to the idea of “Kazi ni Kazi” as propagated by Ruto and his allies.

 Instead, Raila said he stands for and believes in decent jobs for all Kenyans, which he has been pushing for since his days at the University of Nairobi where he started his career as a lecturer in the Engineering Department.   “Let me be clear here too.

I do not subscribe to the idea of Kazi ni Kazi. No. I stand for decent and well-paying jobs for our youth.

All my public life, I have been allergic to giving excuses and resorting to half measures,” said Raila in one of the tweets.

Referring to his presidential bid, Raila said his main focus will be to ensure he prepares Kenyan youths for jobs of the future, not jobs of yesterday to enable them be able to meet the demands of the market which keeps on changing.

Wheelbarrows 

 He said it was ironical that despite Kenyans being promised digital jobs, knowledge-based economy, double-digit economic growth, they are now being offered wheelbarrows as well as being told to support the Kazi ni Kazi slogan which is a total fraud.

 “Here is a commitment I can give the youth of Kenya today. In the event that I fail as a leader to deliver what I promise, I will not invent excuses. I will not change the goal posts,” he said.

 He added: “In an era when nations are sending their sons and daughters to planet Mars, I refuse to tell the children of Kenya that the tools our great, great ancestors used in the pre-historic age represent some kind of revolution that can take them places.”

 Ruto has of late traversed various parts of the country to popularise his economic model.

Last month, the DP told off his political opponents from the opposition groupings for criticising his economic model saying it was evident that the said leaders had no agenda for the country and their only plan was to compete with him, a plan he said was bound to fail.

 He explained that the bottom-up model is focused on liberating hustler enterprises from shylock-credit exploitation and unfair regulation and empowering of resource-poor farmers and herders to produce so as to free them from the slavery and indignity of relief food aid.

 The DP his push for the model is because the current system only benefits a few people who are at the top of the food chain, in the name of having these people get resources to those at the grassroots.

 “People are confused about this bottom-up approach. It is about helping the weak. Christ himself has said blessed are those who help others,” he said.

Access to cheap loans

 In the tweets, Raila defended his tenure with former President Mwai Kibaki saying they laid the ground for Kenyans to be able to access cheap loans and thus were able to start business.

 “Together with President Mwai Kibaki, we showed that things can work for all our citizens.

We laid the ground for fiber optics to go across Kenya for faster, cheaper and reliable internet connectivity,” he said.

 He added: “ The youth need to appreciate that as the majority in our country, the choices you make today will determine the opportunities you create for yourselves and our country tomorrow and into the future,” he said.

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