Sen Tabitha Mutinda defends State House youth empowerment program
By Joel Masibo, August 18, 2025The United Democratic Alliance-nominated Senator Tabitha Mutinda has defended the State House youth empowerment program meant to open employment opportunities among young people in the country.
Speaking on a local television on Monday, August 18, 2025, Senator Mutinda responded to criticism that has emerged over the recently launched program at State House by President William Ruto. The Senator said only a handful out of thousands have come to complain regarding the particular initiative. The lawmaker noted that the overwhelming majority of Kenyans who attended the event embraced the program positively.
“Out of the thousands of Kenyans at State House for the empowerment programme, only one has come out to complain. This suggests that politics is being involved to perpetuate lies,” Mutinda stated.
In a separate incident, State House Spokesperson Hussein Mohamed had revealed that a total of 1,100 registered groups from Nairobi submitted proposals for various empowerment projects.
According to Hussein, all proposals were vetted, approved, and funded. He clarified that each group had 10 members, with a chairperson responsible for delivering the projects to ensure order and accountability, amounting to 11,000 beneficiaries in total.
Youth empowerment items
President William Ruto, on Saturday, August 9, 2025, showered Nairobi residents with a wide range of goodies during the Nairobi Empowerment Forum held at State House.
The president, who graced the occasion attended by several city leaders, among them Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja, Nairobi Woman Representative Esther Passaris, nominated Senator Karen Nyamu, and a majority of Nairobi MPs, oversaw the distribution of various items meant to support local businesses and groups.
The items included 300 motorcycles to be distributed to different bodaboda groups across the city; public address systems; salon equipment; car wash machines; sewing machines; laundry equipment; catering equipment; maize milling machines; welding and carpentry machines; garage equipment; tents and chairs; and water tanks.
All these items, running into the hundreds, were to be issued to Nairobi residents who, according to the president, were expected to organise themselves into groups for proper allocation.
However, a section of recipients of the particular items complained that they never got the goodies as earlier displayed, reports that Senator Tabitha Mutinda has linked to political lies.