The Cabinet is still focused on a raft of changes to the NYS, following up on an earlier move by President Uhuru Kenyatta, where he had called for a clean-up of the mess in the body. This comes after the Cabinet approved a memorandum from the Ministry of Youth and Public Service seeking to submit the National Youth Service Bill 2018 to the National Assembly during a Cabinet meeting chaired by president Uhuru Kenyatta. The Bill contains changes targeting management and operations at NYS including transforming the department to a body corporate. It also seeks to align NYS to match the targets of the state’s Big Four Agenda and the Vision 2030 blueprint and fixing the structural weaknesses which have hampered its service delivery. This will be done by targeting loopholes in its governance and monitoring aspects to curb corruption and other malpractices.
The Housing agenda as part of the Big Four plan was also highlighted during the meeting, with guidelines for the implementation of the affordable housing programme addressed. Aspects such as financing, costing and design of the houses to ensure quality and affordability and the establishment of a level field for the public and private sector investors were discussed. The exam preparedness was also addressed, with the Cabinet briefed by the Education Ministry on the preparedness level and efficient delivery of both the KCPE and KCSE.
President Kenyatta’s upcoming trip to Cina was also discussed, and he is expected to lead a strong delegation of horticultural farmers and traders to China in November for the 1st Shanghai Import Expo, where trade deals are expected to be negotiated and signed. Among the agreements include the Sanitary and Phytosanitary deal between Kenya and China which will pave the way for over 40 percent of Kenya’s fresh produce including mangoes, avocados and cashew nuts to the Chinese market, and allow for the export of stevia, a sweetener grown in the Rift Valley. Additionally, there will be the signing of an MoU for the establishment of a trade negotiation working group which will be mandated with negotiating trade tariffs especially on Kenya’s tea and coffee exports to China and explore an additional market for the county’s cash crops.