The Elgeyo Marakwet County Government has announced a major boost to local vocational training, offering free tuition for all students joining Vocational Training Centres (VTCs) and hiring 40 new instructors to address severe staff shortages.
Governor Wisley Rotich gave the directive during a graduation ceremony of 346 students at Iten Youth Polytechnic.
Under the new plan, the county government will cover all tuition costs, leaving students responsible only for their accommodation.
Governor Rotich urged the youth who have not acquired technical skills to register immediately, saying the program is a direct solution to local unemployment. He said the public sector payrolls cannot solve the employment crisis and the youth have to shift towards entrepreneurship.
“The government, both county and national, cannot absorb all youth seeking jobs, but through vocational training, they can employ themselves,” Governor Rotich said.
The Governor also challenged the graduates to leverage technology for business growth rather than political debates. “Each one of you has a smartphone; use it to advertise yourself instead of engaging in ‘tutam’ and ‘wantam’ politics,” he urged.
The county has 18 VTCs in operation with two more nearing completion to ensure that every ward has its own training centre, he said.
Supporting the initiative, County Assembly Majority Leader Aron Cheruiyot confirmed that the assembly allocated Sh2 million this financial year to fund the tuition waiver.
Cheruiyot said he would lobby his colleagues to increase that money next year and approve hiring 40 more instructors to keep pace with rising student enrollment.
This aggressive drive towards technical vocational education is coming at a time of great need for the economy of Elgeyo Marakwet, which depends overwhelmingly on agriculture for up to 80 percent of its economic activities.
The sector is driven by highland crops like maize and wheat alongside livestock and fruit farming in the Kerio Valley.
However, data from the Kenya Institute for Public Policy Research and Analysis (KIPPRA) indicates that this dominant sector yields the county’s lowest labour productivity, contributing to a high local poverty rate that sits between 43.6% and 57%.
Compounding the problem is a severe bottleneck in formal job creation, as the county government can only absorb roughly 2,500 individuals into its civil service.
To bridge this gap, the local leadership is attempting to diversify into high-value cash crops and establish County Aggregation and Industrial Parks (CAIPs).
These new value-addition manufacturing hubs require a workforce heavily skilled in mechanics, processing, and construction, which the expanded VTC network is designed to supply.
