The fund has struggled under the weight of governance, lack of clear strategies, conflicts between and within the management board among others. Photo/FILE.
The team is headed by Ronnie Osumba who was Peter Kenneth’s running mate in the 2013 presidential election.
Cabinet Secretary for Public Service, Youth and Gender affairs Sicily Kariuki said the 9 member team is set to play a vital role in ensuring the youths are fully empowered by increasing the uptake of the fund.
“I welcome the new team and urge them to offer dedicated service to the youth in this country” she said when she inaugurated the board.
The team, she said, has joined at the most opportune time when their collective skills, knowledge and full participation are necessary and expected by the ministry in turning the Fund around.
The CS said the fund has achieved a lot since inception and it is yet to fully deliver its greatest potential noteworthy.
“YEDF has disbursed loans to Kenyan Youth worth kHz 11,486,181,157.00 through its diverse products benefiting g a total of 840,727 youth across the county” she said.
The formation of the new board follows the disbandment of a similar team more than twice within a span of two years after previous boards were accused of engaging in malpractices that led to loss of tax payer’s money.
The fund has struggled under the weight of governance, lack of clear strategies, conflicts between and within the management board among others.
“It is unfortunate that these issues have given YEDF negative publicity and caused the youth to lose faith in the fund,” the CS said.
The Cabinet Secretary has however, assured that the new board will align itself with the transformative agenda of the Government of enhancing the financial base of the Fund.
“Seek ways of enhancing the financial base of YEDF for sustainability and scale up, also strengthen the management control systems to ensure proper and efficient use of public resources,” she told the new board.
Kariuki made it clear that the board is expected to work within the core values and principles of the Public service as enshrined in the constitution.
“I have expressed my faith in their ability to get the fund where it aspires to be and we are committed to support them and ensure we deliver the metaphoric agenda of this government,” she said.
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