Transport Cabinet Secretary James Macharia has said that wages for the Kazi Mtaani program have remained the same since the beginning of the second phase.
In a statement on Tuesday, the CS said the payment will remain the same even for the third phase of the program which will run for three months.
"The wages provided for working youth under the program are Sh455 per day for workers and Sh505 per day for supervisors. These payment rates were set at the start of Phase II in July 2020 and have not changed," Macharia said.
"In this third iteration of the program, the payment rates will remain the same."
The clarification follows claims by Deputy President William Ruto in an interview with NTV on Sunday that the program was a way of deliberately stealing the little that is set aside for the youth.
According to Ruto, young people participating in the National Hygiene program should be earning more than the Sh500 they receive per day.
He also accused government officials of sabotaging the Big 4 Agenda, which would have created better jobs for the youth and pushed for the rollout of the Kazi Mtaani program because the election was close.
"Officials want a situation where we have desperate young people who are easy to manipulate and that is why we have this Kazi Mtaani thing."
"You pay young people Sh1,000... I hear now it's not even that because someone has run away with Sh500," Ruto stated.
CS Macharia noted that the wages were revised in the second phase of the program because it was expanded and approved to recruit over 280,000 youth from across the country.
He noted that about half of the youths who took part in the second phase expressed interest in taking part in the third phase of Kazi Mtaani.
"It is important to note also that while the program was promised Sh10 billion by His Excellency the President, Parliament only approved an additional Sh2.5 billion for this financial year. The activities of the program will therefore be covering three (3) months."
The Third phase has also been expanded and will have 533,608 youth from all wards across the country participate in the program.
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