During the Town Hall engagements, Comrades had the chance to interact and get feedback on some of the policies being undertaken by the Government, and especially those that directly impact them.
Key among these are the issues relating to Hustler Fund, new university funding programme, the housing programme and the new social health programme under Social Health Authority (SHA).
Opening the forum for engagement, party Secretary General Sen. Hassan Omar encouraged the students to take advantage of the opportunity provided by the UDA to get answers for the questions they have relating to their issues, but also those that are of interest to the youth.
“We are committed to engaging the youth in matters governance. I promise you with the leadership that is here today, that we will construct a leadership academy that will be a center for discourse and ideology for young people, so we can define our policies as a party,” said the SG who is a former student leader.
He added: “The Party has been assembling technocrats from different fields to engage the Comrades through the Chapter. I want to assure you that we will continue to engage candidly and courageously. We will engage until we get a country that is built on consensus to perfect our democracy and our policy and improve governance.
“The UDA Comrades Charter is a platform that consolidates the youth’s voice into actionable policies, promoting good governance,” said Robin Mito, a member of the Comrades Chapter interim leadership.
Ms. Faith Lukosi, a Director with the Youth Development Fund hailed the engagement sessions, terming them as progressive ways of Government engaging its youth population.
“Since time immemorial, Comrades are agents of social change. I appreciate UDA Party for creating this civic engagement to give Comrades room to engage and share their views,” said Ms. Lukosi.
She added: “Once Comrades are economically empowered through Government Affirmative Action fund, they will contribute immensely to nation building”.
Engaging the students also, especially on the part of Government’s blueprint, Bottom-up Economic Transformative Agenda (BETA), was Vincent Machuki from the President’s Economic Council.
UDA National Treasurer Japheth Nyakundi said President William Ruto’s administration brought changes, including the new university funding model, for the benefit of all Kenyans.
He said despite the earlier resistance to the newly introduced changes, university students and leaders have dialogued with the government over the funding model addressing concerns raised.
Nyakundi urged universities to adopt the electoral system instead of the delegate style of choosing leaders to ensure inclusivity.
