How Presidential Candidates plan to solve the youth unemployment problem.

No matter how much the Presidential candidates disagree; they all agree on one thing- the high youth unemployment rate in the country. Youth unemployment is a ticking time bomb that if unchecked, could have dire repercussions for the country.

To tackle this menace, a Cord government proposes to create a million jobs every year immediately it gets into power. Cord plans to do this by expanding college and university education, so that youths acquire skills that are critical to the functioning of a modern economy. The coalition proposes to increase the number of graduates in the STEM disciplines- Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics, which it believes will propel the country’s technological take off. In addition, a Cord government plans to streamline the inefficient youth fund, and enable more young people to access business grants- which don’t have to be repaid back.

Eagle Coalition’s Peter Kenneth takes a slightly different view to tackling the unemployment menace in the country. His major priority is to revitalize the agricultural sector which he argues is the economic backbone of Kenya. He sees a strong agricultural sector as the panacea to the rural-urban migration that has put so much strain to the city and urban authorities. He wants farmers better paid for their produce, so that they not only produce food to feed the country, but also get income that will improve their livelihoods. His ultimate aim is to make farming ‘cool’ so that many youngsters could return to farms in the villages. He is particularly against the real estate encroachment into once farming only areas, which he sees as jeopardizing the country’s food security. He also proposes to set up a polytechnic in every county, so that youths who miss out on universities could be trained to get useful on the job skills to help them be employable. This comes even as the middle level colleges, which used to provide on the jobs skills-, are either being upgraded to full university status, or being gobbled up by universities that are ever hungry to attract more students.

James Ole Kiyiapi seems to share many ideas with Peter Kenneth, although he puts more emphasis on the manufacturing sector, as opposed to Peter Kenneth’s emphasis on the agricultural sector. James Ole Kiyiapi believes that we should empower the youth in the Jua Kali sector by importing machines, so that youth businesses could be more efficient, and yield more returns. He believes manufacturing is the best bet for tackling unemployment, since it has a large spiral effect, that even the less educated could be employed in the sector. In that respect; Martha Karua, Amani coalition’s Musalia Mudavadi, Eagle coalition’s Peter Kenneth and James Ole Kiyiapi seem to share the same ideas on how to tackle the youth unemployment problem.

While Jubilee Coalition does have the same ideas as Cord, one of its members not too long ago, had brought up a bill in parliament that would have seen a radical drop in the unemployment rate in the country. Joshua Kutuny- the outgoing Cherangany MP, had proposed that Fresh graduates be put on internship for a maximum of three years after graduating from University. In such a dispensation, Fresh graduates from colleges and universities would be absorbed by government ministries, parastatals, schools, hospitals, colleges and universities and other public bodies on an internship basis, as they acquire key job skills. They would be paid a monthly stipend of say kshs.10, 000 for a maximum of three years, during which time they should have gotten a job. Human Resource experts often argue that it’s often easier to get a job when you have one foot in the door, and in such an arrangement, graduates would get on the hands job training, and build their networks so as to increase the chances of being hired. Since the Fresh graduates will be absorbed by public institutions, the possibility of being misused by employers who want cheap labor would be reduced. Besides, fresh graduates, who are often cash strapped, would get an allowance for basic living, which would remove the dependency on their parents.

By allowing graduates to work in public institutions, Kutuny argues, a sense of patriotism in young people would be inculcated, not much different from the days when high school graduates had to go to the National Youth Service- NYS, for a year.

Each coalition has strong points, so the winning coalition will need to borrow a raft of measures from each of the candidates. Kutuny’s ideas, for instance, could be implemented immediately to stem the rising youth unemployment. Peter Kenneth’s idea seems most plausible when looking to curb the rural urban migration, and boost the skills of the youth that are locked out of universities while Cord’s ideas are more futuristic rather than looking to offer immediate solutions, and are aimed at a high tech economy country.

In the same breadth, whilst all candidates seem excited by the idea of encouraging entrepreneurship, it should be remembered that starting a business is not child’s play. Not everyone is cut out for business. Even as they encourage this idea of starting businesses, it should be only in so far as the businesses will create decent, clean and rewarding jobs. 

For the rare gems that want to get into business, and prove to have the talent to do that, they must be encouraged through specific measures such as the strengthening of our venture capital market, strengthening the capacity of the youth fund, and encouraging banks to take a more proactive approach in lending to promising young business savvy graduates.

In retrospect, it is absolutely imperative that whichever presidential candidate wins in the next election solves the problem of youth unemployment once and for all. Psychologists often lament that the problem of unemployment is not just a lack of money for the unemployed person. Work confers a sense of identity, which is why people who are suddenly laid off from work quickly turn into depression. Work also provides the stability- for young men especially, to start families, as it is often noted that men without jobs take longer to start families, and are much more likely to turn out as violent fathers due to their diminishing economic role, in the process increasing the divorce rates.

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