The Service Party (TSP) leader Mwangi Kiunjuri has challenged the youth to make use of the digital space available to create jobs, saying that the next million jobs are smartphone related.

Speaking during an award ceremony for the winners of a ‘Spot a TSP billboard’ contest organized by the party, Kiunjuri said the digital world has offered opportunities for young people, who only need a smartphone and access to internet.

‘’ you don’t have to open a mtumba shop, what you need is a smartphone, take photos of clothes and sell the at the comfort of your seat. As a party we are determined to make this a reality.’’ Kiunjuri said

 

However, Kiunjuri said the agenda can only be achieved by ensuring there is deliberate effort to lower the cost of smartphones by slashing the percentage of duty imposed, and making internet affordable.

 

‘’ ‘We do not all need to be in government to achieve some of these things. Myself included. We just need the space and opportunity to agitate for them and the digital space affords that to all of us.” Kiunjuri Said

Kiunjuri said that the party is not looking to reinvent the wheel, as conversation on matters technology and the digital space are not new and have accelerated since the advent of the Covid-19 pandemic.

 

Director of internal Affairs at TSP Wambui Kimathi who spearheaded the Smartphone contest stated that it was time to take initiative in easing access to the gadgets and the campaign was just the first of many activities leading up to the launch of the agenda.

 

‘We must make a difference for young people. There is so much to be done with smartphones.’’ Wambui Said

According to Safaricom statistics, 39% of all phones are smartphones, 53% being non smartphones and the remaining 8% being other forms of gadgets. TSP leader says there is need for policy intervention, to ensure that smartphone intake among the youth is enhanced.

‘’if your father has a smartphone, he uses it maybe to take photos, go to twitter to see what is happening, but when a young person buys a smartphone, he sees it as an opportunity to earn. This is why the government should dig deeper to find out what portion of the population, with access to smartphones, actually accounts for the youth as well as the best measures, such as subsidizing the cost, that would result in an increase in the ownership of smartphones by young people.’’ Kiunjuri said

The Service Party (TSP) Spot a billboard campaign was launched on the 5th of October 2021 and ended on the 18th of October 2021.

A verification exercise was conducted to determine the winners with the criteria being the number of retweets and likes as well the category within which the responses fell.

A total of 11 winners were selected, namely: Sylvia Mercy Kibet, Muti Kelvin, Gilbert Moturi, Victor Macharia, Dennis Githinji, Lucy Muriuki, Gilbert Ng’etich, Peter Barack, Caleb Jones, Rebecca Mwangi and Kilonzi Shadrack.

Every winner was presented with a smartphone and a gift hampers by the party leader.