Work to improve Kenya's poor human development record

The United Nations (UN) 2017 Human Development Index (HDI) report says Kenya, the biggest economy in the region, is creating far less jobs than it ought to. Kenya’s unemployment rate stands at 39.1 per cent while Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda and Ethiopia stand at 24, 18.1, 17.1 and 21.6 respectively. For Kenya, what this means is that out of every ten adults, four are jobless.

What could be the problem? The predicament facing Kenyans is both man-made and natural, but most of the former. Obviously, the collapse of the agricultural industry – once the backbone of our economy- is to blame. Sugar, tea and coffee have been adversely affected as farmers opted for high-yielding crops and commercial endeavours like real estate.