Teso youth, farmers to benefit from NYS technical, agriculture training

The National Youth Service will train youth and farmers in Teso on technical courses and modern agricultural practices starting January.

The training will be conducted at the newly launched NYS training college in Jairosi in Teso North subcounty, NYS deputy director general Jamlick Chabari said on Thursday.

He said NYS experts will train youth and farmers on agriculture. The two groups will be expected to apply knowledge gained in growing cash and subsistence crops.

Youth will also undergo training on technical courses including welding and automotive engineering, Chabari said.

He was speaking at Achiya Echakara NYS Training College in Malaba North ward, Teso North subcounty, during the official launch of the institution.

Chabari was accompanied by National Government Constituency Development Fund chief executive Yusuf Mbuno, NG-CDF director Mariah Lekoloto, area MP Oku Kaunya and NYS Western region commander Enock Nyandege.

Others at the event were Teso North deputy county commissioner Stephen Wambura and assistant county commissioner 1 Bernard Kemboi, among other guests.

“The NYS project we are establishing here is a project that will hugely benefit the people of Teso North and we are not going to train youth from other parts of Kenya and leave out local youth who come from this area,” Chabari said.

“What you have been telling us is that NYS should come near here so that your young men and women can also get that opportunity to train.”

Local youth set to be trained will be attending classes and returning home. This, Chabari said, will cut the cost of accommodation and meals for those who will enrol.

Among courses offered at the centre include agriculture, welding and automotive engineering as well as hospitality courses including catering.

The training college sits on 14 acres which Kaunya said will be expanded to include another 20 acres set to be acquired from the local community.

Kaunya urged the youth to take advantage of the establishment of the training college to enrol for courses which, he said, will boost their individual productivity in a country where unemployment stands at 5.41 per cent.

“As leaders, our work is to lobby for institutions like NYS to open in Teso,” the MP said.

“Play your part as youth by registering for courses. The benefits are many.”

Mbuno said NG-CDF will remain committed to funding such projects.

“This college is unique because it is the first NYS college for NG-CDF to construct and it is important because it will offer training opportunities for NYS youth. However, we also have a special arrangement where the college will offer training for youth in Teso North constituency.”

The institution, Mbuno said, will also establish demonstration farms where local farmers will be educated on modern agricultural practices.

Among other projects the NG-CDF has financed in Teso North include the building of the Kenya Medical Training College-Teso campus. The college is located in Kocholya in Malaba South ward.

Others include the Technical Training Institute in Chamasiri and the Kenya Institute of Highways and Building Technology in Rwatama, Ang’urai South ward.

Lekoloto said NG-CDF will ensure the quality of the projects funded by NG-CDF will be of high quality.

“One way of ensuring there is prudent supervision of the fund is by ensuring projects implemented are those selected by members of the public,” she said.

“We also ensure as a board that we travel to constituencies to see for ourselves the quality of projects and ensure the projects are completed within the set timelines as we also ensure there is value for money.”