Ruto Backs NYOTA Roll-Out as PS Susan Mang’eni Earns Praise for Driving Youth Empowerment

By John Kariuki

President William Ruto has said the government has adopted a whole-of-government approach in rolling out the National Youth Opportunities Towards Advancement (NYOTA) programme to ensure its smooth and transparent implementation across the country.

The President explained that by bringing together leaders from the Executive, Legislature and county governments, the programme is being made truly inclusive. He said the initiative reflects a deliberate effort to tackle unemployment, strengthen youth empowerment, and expand opportunities for engagement among young people.

“This is coming as a result of being deliberate about doing something about employment, empowerment and engagement with young people,” President Ruto remarked.

The programme has already drawn widespread attention for its promise to create tangible opportunities for Kenyan youth, and much of the credit has been directed towards the Principal Secretary for Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises Development, Susan Mang’eni.

PS Mang’eni has been lauded for providing strategic leadership in ensuring that the NYOTA programme is effectively designed to align with the government’s broader youth empowerment agenda. She has spearheaded the coordination of multiple stakeholders, ensured transparent structures of implementation, and championed accountability measures that are expected to protect the programme from bureaucratic delays and misuse.

Her hands-on approach and commitment to empowering young people have been praised as a model of effective public service. Observers note that under her stewardship, the programme is not only poised to deliver opportunities but also to restore confidence among the youth that government initiatives can genuinely respond to their needs.

By embedding NYOTA within the whole-of-government framework, with PS Mang’eni at the forefront of execution, the government signals its resolve to deliver a programme that addresses employment gaps, nurtures innovation, and builds resilience among the youth.