Stem job losses now by growing our industries

NAIROBI: Data showing that Kenyan banks sent home some 700 workers last year due to advancement in technology offers a mixed bag of fortunes. While it is commendable for the country to adopt more efficient systems and means of production, the expansion of opportunities in industry has been painfully slow to absorb the hundreds of thousands of graduates entering the job market every year. It must be disheartening for the graduates from institutions of higher learning to study hard only to be confronted by a diminishing and sometimes heartless industry.

It becomes hard to accept the situation, especially when the graduate comes from a humble background and the parents or guardians had to make great sacrifices to pay school fees and upkeep. Dozens of companies have been forced into redundancies and sacked hundreds of workers.