Kindiki cautions leaders against graft, says it jeopardises youth’s future
By Cy Muganda, August 6, 2025Deputy President Kithure Kindiki has issued a stark warning against corruption, describing officials who steal public funds as enemies of Kenya who are robbing the nation’s youth of their future opportunities.
Speaking at Pwani University during the officiating ceremony of the National Youth Week on August 6, 2025, Kindiki delivered particularly strong remarks about corrupt political leaders, emphasising that corruption directly undermines the prospects of young Kenyans.
“Any person entrusted with public funds who is siphoning those funds and diverting them to private use is not just an enemy of young people. That person is an enemy of Kenya because we are stealing the future of the nation,” he stated.
Kindiki said while the government continues to invest in job creation and economic infrastructure, meaningful change will only happen if there is an honest reckoning with the misuse of public resources.
“Many of the things that young people are saying are actually right. They are telling those of us who are in office that corruption and stealing public money is a bad thing and it should stop,” he said.
Youth engagement
The Deputy President made a candid admission about the knowledge gap between older leaders and today’s youth, urging his generation to accept that young people are more educated and technologically savvy.
“Today’s young person is much more knowledgeable than us who went to school earlier. That is the truth. Many adults don’t want to accept young people are more educated, they have greater access and exposure to technology,” Kindiki noted.
While acknowledging youth grievances, Kindiki cautioned against violence as a means of expressing dissent, advocating instead for constructive dialogue.
“The culture of violence and rudeness does not take anybody anywhere in the world. You can get very far through constructive engagement. The world has changed. The time when violence used to be one of the levels of resolving disputes, that time is gone,” he said.
Kindiki outlined plans for a structured framework to engage with young Kenyans across different sectors and regions.
“We want to, as a national government, have a framework for engagement with the young people of Kenya. Those in universities and teaching institutions in formal job settings, those in the countryside, those in the urban areas, so that we can understand and learn and tap into what the young people of Kenya can offer their country,” he explained.