The National Youth Congress Elections will proceed as planned after a court in Nairobi ruled in favor of the exercise in a case that incorporated the ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, the Attorney General and the Provincial Administration.
Nyanza Provincial Director of Youth Development, Mr. Timothy Kajwang’ disclosed that the case filed in Nairobi was ruled in favor of the Ministry, while the one in Nakuru was dismissed and so the elections were fully back on track.
Kajwang’ revealed that at the time of stopping the elections, the Ministry was accused of not handling the elections procedurally in line with the National youth Council (NYC) Act.
It further alleged that the Ministry had not carried out sufficient civic education for the youth to participate adequately in the exercise.
“However, these two issues have since been sorted out by the two courts. This has given us the green light to proceed with the elections, and as a department we have decided that since the dispute was not on the results attained so far, we are proceeding from where we left in June 2011”, Kajwang explained.
‘Respective District Youth Officers have been directed to proceed and conclude the exercise according to the program which kicked off from the sub-locations on to the locations and finally the Districts before proceeding to the Provincial and ultimately the National forum,’ he stated.
However, the provincial youth officer noted that some youths who had earlier expressed interest in vying for some seats may have gone beyond the NYC age bracket of age 35 hence they will not eligible to hold office.
Subsequently, Kajwang said their positions have fallen vacant and will have to be replaced.
‘There are also cases of those who left by virtue of socialization or got employed elsewhere. They will also be replaced, but only when they confirm in writing that they are no longer available for the positions,’ he said.
Kajwang said the convergence of the National Youth Congress has been set for January 2013 in Nairobi.
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