80 Percent of KDF Recruits to be Drawn from NYS — President Ruto

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President William Ruto has reiterated his call for 80 percent of Kenya Defense Forces (KDF) and the National Police Service (NPS) recruits to be selected from the National Youth Service (NYS).

NYS is a voluntary work and educational program for young Kenyan citizens.

Speaking in Nkubu, Meru County on January 27, 2024, and the Head of State insisted that NYS officers should be allocated 80 per cent of the security force slots during the recruitment exercise.

Next week, there shall be a national recruitment exercise for youths to join NYS.

“I want to categorically put it on record that 80 per cent of all recruits in the Kenya Defense Forces (KDF), National Police Service (NPS), the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS), and the Kenya Forest Service (KFS) must be from NYS,” directed the President.

The head of state said that as NYS is believed to be for children from low-income earners, he will ensure the officers join security forces, stating that the move is in tandem with his 2022 campaign promise to support the ‘hustlers’.

“Have you ever seen the President’s child joining NYS, an MP’s child joining NYS, or rich people’s children? NYS is only meant for hustlers, and I have vowed to empower the less privileged class in the society,” Dr Ruto opined.

The hustler narrative was one of Ruto’s campaign tools where he promised to lift the economy from the bottom upwards.

Ironically, the promises seemingly have taken a different route as Kenyans continue to suffer, especially the low-income earners, due to the skyrocketing cost of living.

Instead, President Ruto has resorted to increasing Value Added Tax (VAT) and levies on basic commodities, defending the move as one of his tactics to resuscitate the ailing economy.