Super Senator Johnson Sakaja, has been an MYE Champion for as long as we can remember. He has pushed for the most youth-centred bills in Kenya’s Parliament since 2015. In his role, he has sponsored the following key Bills, some of which are currently Acts of Parliament.
- Public Procurement and Asset Disposal Act, 2015 –provides for “30% Procurement Reservation Criteria” for Youth, Women and Persons with disability.
- The National Youth Employment Authority Bill, which creates The National Employment Authority that shall actively seek opportunities for all the jobseekers in its database both locally and internationally, and prepare them for those opportunities through capacity building programs.
- The Private Security Regulation Bill, which provides for a framework for cooperation between private security companies and the national security organs.
- The Disaster Risk Management Bill, providing for a more effective organization of disaster risk management and mitigation, of preparedness for, response to and recovery from emergencies and disasters.
Hon. Sakaja continues to be a trailblazer in the MYE space. He is a recipient of the African Achievers Award Change-maker of the Year, 2016 and the Jacob Well Award in the same year; he also received the prestigious presidential Chief of the Burning Spear Award, 2019. He is the Chairperson of the Kenya Young Parliamentarians Association (KYPA) that worked together with Y-ACT to conceptualize the National Framework for MYE promotion. He is currently the Chair of the Joint Committee on National Cohesion and Equal Opportunity that adopted the YSO Consortium as key stakeholders.