Chair of Council Speech for the International Youth Day 2025

Your Excellency, the President of the Republic of Kenya,
Cabinet Secretaries Present,
Honourable Members of Parliament,
Distinguished Guests,
The MMUST Community,
Our beloved Youth,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

Good morning!

On behalf of the University Council, it gives me immense joy and pride to welcome you to Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology for this year’s International Youth Day.

Your Excellency, we are deeply honoured to host you as our Guest of Honour. Your presence here speaks louder than words – it shows your unwavering dedication to the young people of Kenya: the heartbeat of our nation and the architects of her future.

Today, we do not just celebrate youth – we celebrate possibility. We acknowledge that over 75% of our population is under 35. And we affirm that Kenya’s greatest treasure is not found in the ground beneath us or the oceans around us, but in the creativity, energy, and resilience of our young people.

Your Excellency, your government’s bold steps are opening doors for this generation. The new student cantered funding model is giving every deserving student a fair chance to pursue higher education without the fear of being locked out by financial constraints. This is not just a policy – it is a lifeline, a bridge to a better Kenya.

We salute the Vision 2030 Youth Flagship Interventions – from youth empowerment centres and technical training, to bursaries, sports and arts infrastructure, and environmental programmes like the inspiring Trees for Jobs campaign. These initiatives do more than create opportunities – they create hope.

We celebrate the Public Service Internship Program (PSIP), backed strongly by your government, which has opened pathways for our graduates to gain skills, confidence, and vital networks. We commend the National Youth Towards Advancement (NYOTA) initiative, recognising that our youth are not only job-seekers but also creators – innovators, artists, entrepreneurs – whose ideas can power our creative economy.

And, Your Excellency, it is this kind of support that has propelled MMUST to shine on the world stage. This year, our young innovators brought home top trophies from the Intercontinental High Technology Innovation Championship in St. Petersburg, Russia, excelling in Engineering Tech, Medical Tech, Network Systems Administration, and Emergency Medicine using Digital Transfer Technology.

Here at home, MMUST proudly won Kenya’s Presidential Award and the China–Africa Innovation Competition Award. And now, a young team of our innovators is preparing to carry Kenya’s flag to Geneva for the SDG Olympiad Competition. They will showcase to the world what Kenyan youth can achieve when given the tools and the trust.

We also celebrate the Kenya Youth Employment Opportunities Project (KYEOP), the Hustler Fund, the Youth Enterprise Development Fund (YEDF), the Uwezo Fund, and the Access to Government Procurement Opportunities (AGPO) programme – all giving our youth access to skills, funding, and markets.

Here at MMUST, our young people are not passive recipients of these opportunities – they are drivers of change. They turn training into innovation, internships into careers, and funding into thriving enterprises. They are building the bridge from aspiration to achievement.

Your Excellency, MMUST is now home to over 25,000 students. But with this growth comes challenges. Most of our students live outside the campus, where overcrowding, insecurity, and poor services are a reality. We humbly appeal to your government to consider constructing modern student hostels under the Affordable Housing Project — a move that will safeguard our students and strengthen their academic success.

Finally, I call on all present – policymakers, educators, business leaders, community elders, and every Kenyan – let us see our youth not as a challenge to manage, but as a force to unleash. When we invest in their education, their creativity, and their potential, we invest in the very future of Kenya.

Thank you, God bless our youth, and God bless Kenya.

DR. PAMELA SITIENEI

CHAIRPERSON OF COUNCIL