ODM leader Raila Odinga yesterday said he will ensure the youth have access to public jobs and tenders if he wins next year’s presidential election.

He also promised to put in place a conducive environment for innovators and entrepreneurs to thrive.

While addressing youth from the Mt Kenya region at the University of Nairobi, the former Prime Minister said young people should trust him with the country’s top job.

He promised to fully implement the policy of awarding the youth 30 per cent of government tenders and appoint at least four youths to the Cabinet and other top government offices should he become president.

“I believe strongly that we should make use of the energy of our youth who make up about 70 per cent of our population.

If you don’t give them the education and skills, they become a curse, delinquents, drunkards and criminals.

But if empowered, they become a source of wealth,” Raila told the meeting dubbed “Mt Kenya Youth Consultative Forum”.

BBI policies

He said he would find a way of implementing pro-youth policies that were provided for under the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) – which was declared unconstitutional by the courts – including the creation of a National Youth Commission to oversee execution of issues relating to the youth.

“We will have the ministry of youth and in it, there will be a youth commission to ensure that all the promises that we make will be implemented.

When I was the PM, we used to have round table conferences with young people quarterly where we would take feedback from the youth and we will continue with that,” he said.