The Cabinet Secretary for Information, Communications and the Digital Economy in Kenya Eliud Owalo has said that the Ministry in partnership with Members of Parliament (MPs) is working towards setting up a digital hub in each and every ward across the country - amounting to a total of about 1450 labs - in their bid to empower Kenyan youth with digital skilling and online jobs.

Speaking during the launching of one of the digital hubs in Kajiado East Constituency – in Kajiado County – the CS said that the MPs will help in providing with the structures while the national government will deploy resources to ensure a streamlined training process for the youth, and at the same time link them to various online jobs.

“We are going to set up a total of 1450 digital hubs in each ward in the country. We are working closely with our MPs to ensure that we empower our boys and girls by way of digital skilling and digital jobs. The MPs will give us the facilities. As national government we will come in, we will connect the internet, deploy the devices, facilitate the training and also connect the trainees to online digital jobs,” said Owalo.

The CS further said that the digital training is the only sustainable method to sort the youth deployment problem, adding that the process will help curb migration of youths from rural to urban areas in search of employment.

“This is transformational and is the only sustainable avenue to sort the deployment problem that we have in this country. It will stem rural – urban migration. The youth will not need to move anymore from the villages to towns to look for jobs. They will be able to work for any organization, anywhere in the world right from the village,” stated the CS.

Owalo additionally said the ministry is also determined to empower itinerary traders by setting up internet in the markets so that the latter can maximize e – commerce for their businesses.

“We are going to ensure that we empower our mothers and sisters who are involved in itinerary trade within the market by establishing WIFI hotspots in the markets so that the traders can leverage e – commerce for purposes of trade moving forward,” he noted.

CS Owalo’s remarks come following the launching of the Jitume Programme in December of 2022 by President William Ruto, an initiative aimed at building on the successes of existing digital enablement programs like Ajira Digital and the Kenya Youth Employment Programme.