President William Ruto has directed that National Youth Service (NYS) recruits be taken through mandatory basic firearms training.

Speaking on Monday, August 26, in Gilgil Nakuru County while presiding over the passing out parade of the National Youth Service class of 2024, Ruto said that the move would ensure the NYS officers are ready to defend the country in cases of security emergencies.

The head of state called for collaboration between relevant Ministries, including those of Interior and Defence, to ensure the NYS paramilitary training includes a basic course in firearms.

“The Minister responsible for National Youth Service should in consultation with the Ministry of Defence and the Ministry of Interior further the initiative to make sure that the para-military training that these young men and women go through will include a basic course in firearms to make sure that they stand ready to protect the country when the need arises,” he directed.

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He further revealed that ex-NYS recruits have been absorbed into other security agencies like the military to help improve security operations in the country.

Notably, in the recent Kenya Wildlife Service recruitment, out of the 790 recruited officers, 447 were ex-NYS recruits.

“This is a 56% overall living to my directive that all security agencies must give priority to our NYS men and women because of their demonstrated discipline, capability and paramilitary training,” Ruto said.

The high deployment of NYS recruits into various Ministries aligns with Ruto’s last year directive that NYS personnel be given first priority in the domestic security jobs including the Kenya Defence Forces, Kenya Police, Kenya Forest Service, and the Kenya Wildlife Service.

“In order to use the NYS as the incubator, the National Security Council has decided that going forward 80% of all security recruitment will be from the National Youth Service,” Ruto said.