NYS owes youth over Sh1.1bn, says Director General Matilda Sakwa

Machakos County Commissioner Matilda Sakwa addresses prisoners at Machakos GK Prison on May 15, 2018. She has said that NYS owes youth over Sh1.1bn. PHOTO | FILE | NATION MEDIA GROUP 

In Summary

• The youth received daily stipends of Sh141, where they would save some of the payments in self-enterprise savings schemes.
• She exuded confidence that she will eventually seal all loopholes that were contributing to the loss of funds.

By WANDERI KAMAU
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The government’s move to slash this year’s budgetary allocation for the National Youth Service (NYS) has left the service with over Sh1.1 billion arrears as debt for the youth.

The service received Sh13.15 billion in this financial year, instead of the annual proposal of Sh22 billion after its budget was cut by up to Sh8 billion.

In an interview with NTV on Sunday night, the service’s Acting Director General Matilda Sakwa, said that among the affected operations are the Youth Empowerment Programme and other outdoor activities.

The programme saw youth receive daily stipends of Sh141, where they would save some of the payments in self-enterprise savings schemes.

BUDGET CUT

 “The programme was very key for the institution, as it helped the youth to save for their future. However, since the budget cut, we have been unable to pay them over Sh1.1 billion,” said Ms Sakwa.

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The financial cut was seen as a measure to curb loss of funds, after it was unearthed that up to Sh8 billion may have been lost in unclear circumstances, in what is now dubbed as ‘NYS II.’

However, the director, who has been at the helm for two months, said that she has instilled strict measures, where all the goods delivered must be accompanied by all the necessary documentation.

PROPER DOCUMENTATION

“After I took over, the main problem I found is that there was no proper documentation for goods delivered by different suppliers, a situation which could have led to a lot of money getting lost in unclear circumstances,” she said.

She exuded confidence that she will eventually seal all loopholes that have contributed to loss of funds.

“We have retrained our procurement officers on the importance of documenting every procedure involving use of public money. We have also made sure that every supplier brings all the documents for particular goods, to ensure that no overpayments are made,” she added.