The government through the Treasury Cabinet Secretary Henry Rotich has announced that all youth that benefit from the Ajira programme will have to pay for registration.
CS Rotich who was reading the country’s 2019/2020 budget in parliament noted that the youth will have to pay Ksh10,000 from January 2020.
The amount is supposed to be an alternative for their income tax.
The Ajira Digital Program is a government initiative driven by the Ministry of Information, Communications, and Technology to empower over one million young people to access digital job opportunities.
The program seeks to position Kenya as a choice labour destination for multinational companies as well as encourage local companies and the public sector to create digital work.
In the same breath, Rotich explained that the move was to help the government cover for the deficit of the current budget.
In yet another move that caused a stir, CS Rotich announced a new excise duty that is set to affect the millions of sports betting fans across the country.
He cited the negative effects of gambling, adding that its negative effects, especially on the youth, was the key reason as to why the government had decided to impose a 10 percent excise duty on any amount staked.
"In order to curtail the negative effects arising from betting, I have proposed a 10% excise tax on staked mounts," CS Rotich declared.
