The phase focuses exclusively on the youth with the view to gauging their level of knowledge of the Kenya Constitution 2010. Data were collected from three (3) purposively selected sub-counties - namely, Matuga, Msambweni and Kinango. The specific methods of data collection included Key Informant interviews and (Focus) Group Discussions. Specifically, the phase seeks to measure the extent to which young people are aware of and understand the rights and responsibilities bestowed on them by the Kenya Constitution 2010 within the context of governance, leadership and participation in county governance processes.
During both in-depth interviews and group discussions, the locus was on a wide spectrum of carefully selected themes. These included:
Youth understanding of the Kenya Constitution 2010: The young people’s understanding of the Constitution of Kenya 2010 was very low in all the groups interviewed in the three sub-counties. While they were aware of the existence of the new constitution ‘which brought the county governments’ very few could articulate some of the key provisions of the new constitution related to youth, governance, leadership and national values.
Categories of youth organizations operating in the county: According to Kwale County Integrated Development Plan 2018 – 2022, there are approximately 30 local and international non-governmental organizations operating in the county. These organizations are involved in activities such as education, health, HIV and AIDS, agriculture among others. The County also has over 1000 registered community-based organizations aimed at improving the living conditions of the community members.
Priority needs of and challenges facing the youth: From the interviews conducted, the main priority issues affecting the youth in Kwale County are unemployment and underemployment, low level of education; drug and substance abuse; radicalization and violent extremism; HIV and AIDS, Early pregnancy. Persons with disability face the same challenges but in addition they face discrimination and isolation as well as lack of access to devices for different types of disability.
Youth participation/ inclusion in decision-making and in major development programs in the county. A key informant reported that whereas some youth do present their memoranda and attend county assembly sessions when issues pertaining to youth are being discussed, many challenges stand in the way of young people’s participation. It was observed that many youths do not turn up when the public forums are organized and that their number is usually very low – sometimes less than 30%. One of the reasons given was the attitude among the youth that barazas are for old people. Furthermore, the barazas ae perceived as not being youth-friendly and are considered boring. As a result, many youths do not get to know the government (both national and county) policies and programmes that affect them.
Actions by the youth in addressing corruption: The discussions revealed two types of responses; join in the eating or demand accountability and sanction. As pointed out earlier some youth refused to repay their loans because of the high level of corruption at both the national and local level. On the other hand, the acknowledging that corruption and mismanagement of public resources have far reaching effects on the quality of services rendered to the citizens by the county government of Kwale, the Youth Citizen Oversight Council demanded accountability from the leaders. They scrutinised the Auditor General’s report for the financial year the 2013/2014 and demanded answers to the audit queries that had been raised. A summary of the audit queries are captured in the table below.
The delivery of civic education focusing governance, leadership and participation: Most of the youth who were not in groups were not knowledgeable about the Constitution was a pointer to the fact that the youth had received little or no civic education. The FGD participants and some key informants confirmed that the civic education provided was not adequate as it was only conducted just before the elections
Importance of youth Contributions to national Cohesion Justice Peace Rule of Law and Human Security: It is important for the youth to play a role in national cohesion, justice, peace and rule of law and human security. Unfortunately, the study revealed that it is the youth who are radicalised, enticed and recruited by the al-Shabab to go and train in Somalia and return to stage terrorist attacks. It is the youth who are radicalised and recruited by social movements such as MRC. They are the ones recruited as militia and trained in kaya bomo and used to evict wabara. It is also the youth who are hired by politicians during elections to cause chaos and to threaten rival camps. It is therefore incumbent upon them that they offer solutions to and play a key role in promoting national cohesion peace and security.
The study in Kwale recommended that youth leaders and youth receive capacity building trainings on matters relating to the Constitution.