Government Launches Initiative to Transform National Youth Service into a Commercial Venture

As part of larger reforms in the public sector, the government has announced its intentions of turning the National Youth Service (NYS) into a commercially active and self-sustaining organisation.

According to revelations by Public Service Cabinet Secretary Geofrey Ruku, the operationalization of the new business model process is already in progress.

Addressing the audience on Wednesday, November 12, Ruku said that the Ministry was at the last stage of regulation approval and the registration of a new corporation within the NYS framework.

According to him, the move is aimed at repositioning the service as a viable economic participant that can earn money and empower the youth. In the same vein, Ruku announced that the National Youth Service was working on setting up the National Youth Service Enterprises and Services Company as the commercial face of the NYS commercialization agenda.

The regulations and registration of the company are currently being approved. As indicated by the CS, the government has a vision of a restructured NYS that will not only be a national youth empowerment institution but also a viable business venture that will be involved in both the public and the private sector projects.

Upon its operation, the company will be involved in commercial activities that include construction, logistics, manufacturing, and agricultural production, among others.

According to Ruku, this change will be in line with the agenda by the administration of President William Ruto to transform the state institutions to become productive units capable of supporting the national development without overreliance on the Exchequer.

His additional point was that under this new model, NYS will be able to utilize its qualified manpower, infrastructures, and technical capacities to generate income-generating opportunities.

The proposal is in the context of a renewed question into the corruption scandals which have acted as a thorn in the flesh of the service in recent years.

In May, the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) conducted a massive operation against the top officials in the NYS, who were suspected of embezzling KSh2 billion of the public funds.

The EACC stated that the operation was a continuation of an active probe into the alleged financial misconduct, procurement fraud, and office abuse in the NYS, specifically in its Gilgil Paramilitary Academy in Nakuru County.

The anti-graft agency raided the homes and the offices of top officials and their partners at the same time in an effort to retrieve important pieces of evidence.

Some of them called in the investigation included, but were not limited to Nicholas J. Makokha, who was the Deputy Commandant General in the Operations and Logistics Division; David Muthee Mbogo, the Head of Supply Chain Management at the Gilgil Academy; and Joseph Maina Kagiri who was the Camp Accountant at the same institution.

The commission also named a number of people who were felt to have close ties or proxies to the suspects, such as Felista Wanjiru Wandugi and Winfred Cherotiche Towett, spouses of Mbogo, his brother, Elias Muthee, who can also be found on the list of directors at Marvel Hotel.

Others who were involved were Naftali Kaberu who was said to be the business proxy of Mbogo and Florence Muthoni Karanja who was the wife of Kaberu.

The EACC announced in a May 7 statement that the searches were endorsed by court orders and were part of wider probes into conflict of interest, fraud and trading of NYS officials with the institution using outside companies.

The statement further added that the operation, under the orders of the courts, is part of the current investigations of an alleged conflict of interest and abuse of office by senior National Youth Service officials who have traded with NYS through various companies, and have paid an aggregate of Ksh2 billion in the period between the Financial Years 2019/ 2020 and 2024/ 2025.

According to the allegations by the agency, the suspects planned how to siphon money in NYS accounts by granting them non-existent contracts, overstating procurement expenses, and sending them to shell companies. These suspects have allegedly misused their office position and authority to steal the country’s money by colluding and engaging in procurement fraud, the EACC added. The commercialization plan is thus timely to the NYS as it tries to rebuild the trust of the people, accountability, and rebrand its role in the economic development of Kenya.

A successful reform would make the service a profitable institution that not only empowers the youth but also generates much revenue to the nation as well as employment opportunities.