On Wednesday, November 6, President Uhuru Kenyatta sent a stern warning to banks for classifying the youth as a high-risk borrowers and denying them loans.
Speaking while launching the digital credit facility for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) during the inaugural Inua Biashara Day, Uhuru warned the bank officials of dire consequences if they ignored the youth.
He warned commercial lending institutions that they would be the target of the youth who would lose their livelihoods if their businesses or employers went under after being denied loans.
"If you decide not to give them loans because they are high risk and their businesses go bankrupt, the youth they have employed go bankrupt, let me ask you who is sitting comfortably in your twenty-fourth-floor office, how will your life be? To whom will you go home? Where will you pass?" Uhuru questioned.
He then moved on to urge the banks to become realistic in how they conducted their business with mechanisms that would help in lending money to the young people of the country who were willing to make something positive of the lives.
The president informed the banks that the move would also help the youth become employers of their colleagues reducing the rate of unemployment among the young and the same would also ensure the security of the banks.
"Wait for the day things go wrong you will look for a plane to escape but you won't have a destination," the president stated between bouts of laughter.
He assured lenders that they stood to benefit most by supporting the growth of the micro and medium enterprises.
"You will one day head to the golf course and find people drinking water and feeding cattle and there will be nothing you can do because you are the one who never helped the young men get employment," the president added.
The president had been accompanied by the US ambassador Kyle McCarter, Industrialisation CS Peter Munya, and Central Bank Governor Patrick Njoroge.
Below is the video of the presidential address:
