The National Youth Service (NYS) has not paid the recruits over Ksh1.1 billion, Director General Matilda Sakwa revealed.
Sakwa stated during an interview that among the affected operations were the Youth Empowerment Programme and other outdoor activities.
The programme saw NYS recruits receive daily stipends of Ksh141, where they would save some of the payments in self-enterprise savings schemes.
Sakwa stated: “The programme was very key for the institution, as it helped the youth to save for their future."
The Director-General added: "However, since the budget cut, we have been unable to pay them over Sh1.1 billion.”
NYS received Ksh13.15 billion in this financial year, instead of the annual proposal of Ksh22 billion after its budget was cut by up to Ksh8 billion.
Sakwa addressed the challenges the Youth service faced which saw the loss of Ksh9.6 that led to financial cuts by the government.
After being in charge for two months, Sakwa stated that she had instilled strict measures, where all the goods delivered must be accompanied by all the necessary documentation.
“After I took over, the main problem I found is that there was no proper documentation for goods delivered by different suppliers, a situation which could have led to a lot of money getting lost in unclear circumstances,” the NYS Director General stated.
She added: “We have retrained our procurement officers on the importance of documenting every procedure involving use of public money. We have also made sure that every supplier brings all the documents for particular goods, to ensure that no overpayments are made.”
