NAIROBI, Kenya — Former President Uhuru Kenyatta has explained that his decision to invest in youth mentorship programmes was shaped by challenges he encountered while serving as Gatundu South Member of Parliament, where education access was among the most common concerns raised by residents.
Speaking in a video shared on the Jubilee Party TikTok account, Uhuru said many families he met during his time as MP struggled to keep their children in school due to financial challenges.
“This programme actually, I started when I was a Member of Parliament here in Gatundu South,” Uhuru said.
“That was out of just going around and meeting constituents. You started to see that 60 to 70 per cent of the issues that you were being confronted with was, ‘My child is not in school, my child is not in school, school fees’.”
He said the experience pushed him to begin supporting a small number of students before expanding the initiative after seeing the impact of creating opportunities for young people.
“I started then, beginning by asking myself, how many kids can I help?” he said.
Moving Beyond Classroom Education
The former President said that following the progress of beneficiaries over time convinced him that education alone was not enough to prepare young people for future responsibilities.
He said the mentorship initiative evolved after organisers identified gaps in areas such as confidence, responsibility, leadership, and life skills.
“Looking at some of those young fellows and the progress that they had made, people who did not have an opportunity, once given the opportunity, started to blossom,” he said.
Uhuru said the programme later incorporated guidance and mentorship to help young people develop a broader sense of purpose.
“We started to realise that we need to instil a sense of hope, a sense of being, a sense of belonging and a sense of responsibility,” he said.
“That is when the idea came that everybody should have that opportunity to be counselled, to be guided, and to be mentored because classroom education is one thing, life skills are another.”
Promoting National Unity Through Exchanges
Uhuru also spoke about the county-to-county exchange programme, which he said was designed to expose young people to Kenya’s cultural diversity and strengthen national cohesion.
He explained that participants are encouraged to spend time living with families from different parts of the country to gain firsthand experiences of other communities.
“When it came to the county-to-county programme, that was my programme. I insisted that it is important,” he said.
“Any participant in our programme must be willing to at least once a year move from their homes and live with another member from another part of the country so that you begin to understand and appreciate each other.”
The former President said the initiative was intended to challenge stereotypes and help young people appreciate Kenya’s diversity beyond narratives passed within communities.
“There is something beautiful about our diversity, so that you do not listen to the stories that are being told there in the village. You see for yourself,” he said.
“You start to demystify all these myths that people follow.”
Future of Inuka Programme
Uhuru said he remains encouraged by feedback from participants and host families involved in the programmes, describing the experiences as a key measure of success.
He expressed hope that the Inuka programme would continue expanding to reach more families and communities.
“I would love to see the Inuka programme being able to grow as well,” he said.
“That programme of empowering families, empowering communities, is just as fundamental as empowering the individual because the whole objective is to have people who are empowered and becoming meaningful contributors to our society.”
