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President William Ruto speaking at the Nakuru ASK Showground during the disbursement of NYOTA Business Start-Up Capital for counties in the South Rift, January 9, 2026. \/PCS<\/p>\nPresident William Ruto speaking at the Nakuru ASK Showground during the disbursement of NYOTA Business Start-Up Capital for counties in the South Rift, January 9, 2026. \/PCS<\/p>\n
President William Ruto has warned politicians against politicising the education of Kenyan children, saying the government will not allow tribal or selfish interests to limit access to learning.<\/p>\n
\nThe President said national schools were created to dismantle barriers rooted in colonialism and tribalism, not to entrench them.<\/p>\n
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\n\u201cWe want our children to study in every institution available to them in Kenya, especially our national schools,\u201d he said.
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\nHe noted that the institutions were built using public resources and must therefore serve all Kenyans fairly.
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\nRuto spoke on Friday at the Nakuru ASK Showground during the disbursement of NYOTA Business Start-Up Capital for counties in the South Rift.
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\nHe said no child should be sent home over school fees, pointing out that capitation funds were released to schools before they reopened earlier this week.
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\nTo support education, the President said the government had increased the education budget from Sh500 billion to Sh700 billion to ensure no learner is left behind.
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\nHe added that the government had hired 100,000 teachers to address shortages, including 24,000 who are expected to report to schools later this month.
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\n\u201cThe number of teachers we have employed in the past three years is the largest in the history of the country,\u201d he said.
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\nRuto said the youth remain central to government investments aimed at unlocking jobs and opportunities.
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\n\u201cWe are deliberate about the youth agenda. For the first time in Kenya, we have a concrete, deliberate, and intentional plan on how we create jobs and other opportunities for the youth,\u201d he said.
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\nHe cited the Affordable Housing Programme, which he said had created more than 500,000 opportunities, labour mobility programmes with over 400,000 jobs, and a digital programme engaging 250,000 young people.
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\nThe President urged politicians to stop inciting young people to violence and instead offer ideas and solutions.
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\n\u201cIf you have a better plan, explain it to the people of Kenya. However, do not incite young people to violence so that you can get votes. The youth are focused on bettering their lives,\u201d he said.
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\nOn the NYOTA programme, Ruto said more than Sh245 million was disbursed to 9,847 successful applicants from Nakuru, Baringo, Narok, Bomet and Kericho counties.
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\nEach beneficiary received Sh22,000 directly into their mobile phones to grow their businesses, while an additional Sh3,000 was deposited into their National Social Security Fund accounts to promote saving and long-term financial security.
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\nHe urged the youth to seize available opportunities.
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\n\u201cOpportunities will not come looking for you at home. You must go after them,\u201d he said.
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\nRuto said the programme was implemented transparently through a digital platform to eliminate human interference.
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\n\u201cThere were no connections as we are accustomed to. Kenya has been held back because one must know someone who knows someone,\u201d he said.
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\nHe explained that academic certificates are not a requirement for the NYOTA business support programme.
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\nAll that is required is for applicants to be aged between 19 and 29 years, whether schooled or not.
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\n\u201cThe qualification for the programme is no qualification,\u201d he said, adding that the funds are grants, not loans.
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\nTo improve access to credit, the President said the government is disbursing Sh150 million daily through the Hustler Fund.
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\nAfter the event, Ruto toured Baringo County, where he launched the tarmacking of the Sirwa\u2013Kimgoron road in Mogotio Constituency.
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\nHe also laid the foundation stone for the 528-unit Mogotio Affordable Housing Project, commissioned the Mogotio Modern Market, inspected the Mogotio Sports Academy and opened a new tuition block at Mogotio Township Day Senior School.
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\nCooperatives and MSMEs, Cabinet Secretary Wycliffe Oparanya urged beneficiaries to invest in businesses they understand to ensure sustainability.
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\nNakuru Governor Susan Kihika called on beneficiaries to use the funds prudently and announced a waiver on business licence fees for the first year to support their enterprises.
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\n\u201cDo with that money what you are supposed to do with it. Do not divert it to other uses,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"President William Ruto speaking at the Nakuru ASK Showground during the disbursement of NYOTA Business Start-Up Capital for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":13760,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[9324,9327,80,9323,9322,9321,100,9325,101,9326],"class_list":{"0":"post-13759","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-kenya","8":"tag-education-funding-kenya","9":"tag-hustler-fund-disbursement","10":"tag-kenya","11":"tag-national-schools-kenya","12":"tag-politicising-education-kenya","13":"tag-ruto-education-remarks","14":"tag-star-news-kenya","15":"tag-teacher-recruitment-kenya","16":"tag-the-star","17":"tag-youth-empowerment-programmes"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13759","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13759"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13759\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13760"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13759"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13759"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13759"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}