OPENING ADDRESS BY HON. WILLIAM SAMOEI RUTO, E.G.

H, DEPUTY PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF KENYA DURING THE INTERNATIONAL YOUTH FELLOWSHIP 2013 WORLD CAMP FESTIVAL HELD AT GBS TV STATION ON 7TH AUGUST 2013 Our Young Leaders, Development Partners, Pastor Ook Soo Park, Founder of the International Youth Fellowship, Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen, I am pleased to be here today at this forum with each and every one of you to reflect on leadership and what that means to all of us and how we respond to the global need for better leadership in todays world. . I take this chance to welcome all of you to this reflection, this journey and to those from outside our borders I say a very big welcome to you and I am sure you will enjoy your stay and feel free to come back. There are over 4,000 young people from different parts of the world here to discuss and share experiences, ideas and stories as young people looking to impact the world regardless of where you come from. It is gratifying to hear that so far 20,000 young people from Kenya and 2,900 others from across the world have benefited from this program.

Ladies and Gentlemen, Allow me to speak candidly about young people and leadership. First of all this is your time; you must reject the idea that you need to wait for a certain age to make the impact you want to see in your community and in the world. Leadership is not about age, status or education it is about the urge, to do something for your world, to give yourself either though your time, your mind and or any other ability to the pursuit of justice, prosperity, equality, advocacy, unity, integrity, accountability or whatever other noble cause that drives your engagement. You are all agents of advancement and of good and I applaud all of you for responding to your urge to make the world better place, and for accepting the responsibility that comes with that choice. We as the Kenya government are presently faced with the task of extracting the potential of our young people in its entirety- creativity, innovation, passion, talent- and using it to propel our nation to more prosperity. This is a task we are determined to succeed at and which we will spare no effort. To expand access to credit and capital we have created the UWEZO Fund to allow young people across interest free loans for the purposes of entrepreneurship which will increase their participation in the economy. This was a pre-election pledge of the Jubilee Government and we are delighted to get the ball rolling. The fund will roll out with a broad based capacity building program that will equip the youth

with skills for effective entrepreneurship, as well as opening up their minds to the vast world of opportunities that they could tackle. Over and above this it is the policy of this government to reserve 30% of all public procurement opportunities to the youth, women and persons with disability. To all the leaders here, I spoke earlier about the urge that has most likely brought you here. I now need to tell you that it takes effort to keep going; to keep striving because the task of leadership is never complete-there is always more progress to be made more impact to be achieved. This is why you are here so that you can nurture that urge and build the capacity to run the race. I will tell you for free that not everyone you meet will appreciate your ideas and or share your passion for progress. People will try and discourage you, when they do remember I said to ignore them. You have not chosen an easy path, leadership is the force that holds the world together yet it is the responsibility of a few. I have great faith that all of you will brave the journey and each of you will make a mark somewhere and the lives of others will be bettered through you, communities improved and nations moved forward. I urge you to also remember to mentor and teach others what you learn at forums like this, share your wisdom and experiences with

others and you will inspire another generation and or convert more to a life of leadership-a life of service. I see from your program that this forum will enrich you in a variety of ways: there are Mind and Leadership lectures, Class forums, the Free Medical Camp, Music Concerts, Cultural Performances, the Games and Sports Activities and I believe this will give make you well rounded perspectives. I hope each one of you leaves this forum energized and emboldened. I challenge you to go out and make a difference when you do leave here. Finally, I thank the International Youth Fellowship for organizing and sponsoring this event and pray that the discussions, recommendations and shared experiences from this forum will go a long way in impacting the lives of other young people across the world. It is now my humble duty to declare this symposium officially open.

Thank you and God bless you all