Former Public Service Cabinet Secretary Justin Muturi has sharply criticised President William Ruto’s recent youth empowerment initiative, describing it as a “charity handout dressed as jobs.”
On Saturday, President Ruto hosted 15,000 young people from Nairobi’s 85 wards at State House, Nairobi, where they received equipment including motorbikes, car-washing machines, and sewing machines. The event, according to the government, aimed to boost self-employment among the youth.
However, Muturi dismissed the initiative as tokenism that fails to address Kenya’s deep-rooted unemployment crisis.
“Instead of tackling the structural unemployment crisis, the UDA government’s ‘solution’ is to hand out boda bodas and call it empowerment. That’s not job creation that’s locking youth into a poverty cycle and asking them to clap for it. It’s like giving someone a spoon to dig a dam,” he said.
Muturi argued that genuine economic transformation requires investment in large-scale job creation sectors such as technology, manufacturing, creative industries, and renewable energy. He accused the Kenya Kwanza administration of “policy cosplay” promoting small hustles as a national vision while neglecting innovation hubs, tech funding, and green energy opportunities.
“Kenya’s ‘youth policy’ is basically: Here’s a wheelbarrow, now go make us proud. The boda-boda policy is poverty with a helmet. Mr President, stop calling crumbs a feast,” he added.
The former CS warned that producing more boda bodas than engineers is a sign of economic stagnation, saying the current approach sends a message that young people should not dream big.
“It’s political theatre: the youth become props, not partners in development,” he said.
Muturi’s remarks come amid his fallout with President Ruto following the June 2024 Gen Z-led anti-government protests. His son was allegedly abducted during the demonstrations, a development that strained his ties with the President. Shortly afterwards, Muturi was dismissed from the Cabinet and replaced by Geoffrey Ruku, who hails from the same community.
Since then, Muturi has aligned himself with the united opposition, signalling his intention to play a role in forming the next government ahead of the 2027 General Election.
