NAIROBI, Kenya Oct 7 – Two years to the next General Election, President William Ruto is betting big on the youth, the same restless generation that filled the streets and social media timelines protesting against his government just months ago.Through a new World Bank-funded project dubbed NYOTA (National Youth Opportunities Towards Advancement), the President hopes to turn youthful anger into hope and perhaps, votes.The plan is ambitious: to empower over 820,000 vulnerable young Kenyans through training, business support, savings incentives and small start-up grants of Sh50,000 each. The program will run for five years, targeting youth aged 18 to 29, and up to 35 for persons with disabilities, across all 1,450 wards in the country.On paper, it sounds noble, a shot at restoring faith among millions of jobless youth. But on the ground, the mood is mixed.-Gen Z skepticism shadows Ruto’s NYOTA program – Just a year ago, many of these same young people were chanting anti-government slogans during the 2024 Gen Z protests, accusing Ruto’s regime of overtaxing a struggling population and ignoring the plight of the unemployed.Now, the same youth are being courted with business grants, training programs, and talk of “empowerment.”The timing has not gone unnoticed. The rollout of NYOTA, complete with countrywide forums led by Principal Secretaries comes just as the IEBC began a massive voter registration drive targeting six million new voters, most of them under 30.For critics, that’s no coincidence.“Ruto has realized that the youth he once dismissed as noisy are the same ones who can decide his political fate,” says Nairobi-based governance analyst Mark Bichachi. “NYOTA might be more about rebranding himself to Gen Z than solving youth unemployment.” – Inside the rollout of Ruto’s NYOTA program – On Monday, all Principal Secretaries fanned out across 47 counties, chairing NYOTA sensitization forums alongside governors, MPs, and local administrators, a rare show of government coordination.At every stop, the message was the same.“The government is helping youth create jobs and drive development,” said Public Health PS Mary Muthoni in Kirinyaga.ICT PS John Tanui added that NYOTA will offer digital training and savings support to help youth “unlock their potential and actively contribute to socio-economic transformation.”But as photos of PSs addressing cheering crowds flooded social media, some Kenyans saw more politics than policy.“This feels like a campaign tour in disguise,” one user wrote on X. “Why the rush? Why now?”– Is Ruto’s NYOTA program a rebrand of the Hustler Fund? – For many Kenyans, NYOTA sounds familiar. It echoes the Hustler Fund, another flagship Ruto project launched in 2022 to offer microloans as low as Sh500.While the government insists the Hustler Fund has “uplifted millions,” economists and citizens alike continue to debate its real impact. Some call it a revolving door of debt; others, a populist gesture.Now, NYOTA, complete with its own USSD code (254#) is being marketed as Hustler Fund’s smarter, more structured cousin. The key difference: grants instead of loans, and heavy World Bank oversight to enhance credibility.Still, skepticism lingers.“How do we ensure this doesn’t become another NYS scandal?” asks youth activist Brian Njoroge. “We’ve seen funds meant for the youth vanish before. What makes this different?” – The politics behind Ruto’s NYOTA program – President Ruto first unveiled NYOTA during the International Youth Day celebrations in August 2025 in Kakamega County, presenting it as the ultimate solution to youth joblessness.But since then, the conversation has shifted from economics to politics. With the 2027 elections just 22 months away, analysts believe NYOTA could become one of Ruto’s biggest political tools, both to repair his image and to rebuild his connection with a generation that feels betrayed.“It’s not just about jobs, it’s about trust,” says political commentator Daisy Achieng. “Can you buy back belief from a generation that feels deceived? That’s Ruto’s real challenge.”The first batch of 54,000 beneficiaries is expected to receive their Sh50,000 business grants this year. Others will undergo skills training, entrepreneurship mentorship, and certification programs for informal workers such as mechanics, electricians, and tailors.The plan’s architects say it’s about “hope, empowerment, and action.”But on the streets, hope remains thin.“Fifty thousand shillings can’t fix a system that keeps us poor,” says 25-year-old Nancy Wanjiru, a jobless university graduate in Nairobi’s Pipeline estate. “They think we can be bought. We just want jobs, not handouts.”President Ruto’s NYOTA program is being sold as the dawn of opportunity for Kenya’s youth, a promise to lift the forgotten and rekindle faith in government.But as the political winds shift toward 2027, one question hangs in the air:Will NYOTA empower a generation or simply buy time until the next election?Because for Kenya’s most disillusioned youth, belief not business grants may be the hardest thing to restore.