Religious leaders in Machakos County on Friday held a youth empowerment conference in Mwala Sub-County at the Mwala Boys School,
The conference led by Deliverance Church bishop Boniface Kitivo was mainly to empower the youth in the region and to equip them with life skills, moral support, and guidance.
The interdenominational conference attracted a great attendance of young people from various parts of the county who endeavored to act as role models and show fellow young people that it was possible for them to prosper.
During the conference, bishop Kitivo mainly talked about self-discipline, upholding moral values and hard work, as virtues that the youth should embrace.
"You are so far aware of what is wrong and right; you know that drug abuse is not good for your life, as from the books you read in school, what affects most youth today is peer influence and therefore one should either avoid bad company or have a strong and firm stand in their decision so as not to be swayed by wrong peer groups," said Bishop Kitivo.
During his speech, Kitivo also criticised early marriages mentioning that it was the menace that kills the dreams of young people especially the girl child.
Kitivo emphasized that marriage can only work well between mature couples and, therefore, advised the youth to first seek career development and employment before getting into the marriage institution.