Joblessness: A time-bomb waiting to explode

By John Njiraini

Unemployed, idle and hopeless, the time bomb that is Kenya’s young people is on a countdown.

The post-election violence provided a fertile ground for rehearsals while the quickness at which a group of youths mobilised themselves and uprooted a railway line in Kibera last week proves the level of pent up frustrations.

Frustrated youth vent their pent up anger by uprooting a railway track during the post-election violence last year. The number of unemployed in their ranks has grown to frightening proportions. Photo: File

Even the Government, which has only been engaging in cosmetic interventions to tackle unemployment among the youth, admits of the eventuality.

"Unemployment challenge is a time bomb," said Prime Minister Raila Odinga last week.

Mr William Reese, the President and Chief Executive of International Youth Foundation (IYF), was even more blatant.

"When a country has over 40 per cent unemployment rate, this is a recipe for social instability," he told FJ during a Youth Employability Opportunity Conference in Nairobi.

Alarming numbers

In Kenya, the realities of youth unemployment are conspicuous and the statistics frightening.

Government statistics show the youth comprise 33 per cent of the country’s population. Of this, 75 per cent are under 30.

Though 80 per cent of them are literate, a staggering 67 per cent are jobless.

The numbers increase annually as 750,000 young people join the job market after dropping out of school, being sieved by an education system that can only absorb a few and graduating from universities, polytechnics, colleges and vocational training institutions.

Being literate, however, does not mean possessing the right skills required in the job market.

Only 1.5 per cent of the unemployed youth have formal education beyond secondary school level while lack of experience makes it hard for the qualified to get jobs.

For the few who are lucky to be absorbed in the ever-shrinking opportunities, they are paid much less at an average of 32 per cent compared to someone over 40 years old.

Drug abuse

For the youths in slums and rural areas, the scenario is much worse pushing them against the wall and forcing them to take up survival occupations like casual factory workers, hawking, tailoring, salons and barber shops, househelps (maids), mechanics, cobblers, boda boda operators and other such menial jobs.

Their troubles are exacerbated by the fact that they are hard hit by other social problems.

For instance, young people below the age of 25 are more likely to be infected with HIV and are easily lured into crime and prostitution.

Those between the age of 13 and 19 experience high prevalence of unplanned pregnancies, are more likely to procure illegal abortions and can easily fall into the dragnet of drug abuse.

Living in such a tough environment that makes them vulnerable has not gone down well with many youths who accuse the Government of being indifference to their plight and failing in its mandate of creating opportunities.

Largely, the young people are right. This is because respective governments since independence have done little to address the problem of youth unemployment.

It is tragic to note that more than 45 years after Kenya attained self-rule, the country is yet to develop a comprehensive youth policy providing the roadmap of addressing problems facing the youth. Only recently, in 2005, did the Government see it prudent to establish the Ministry of Youth Affairs with on of its mandates being to develop a national youth policy. And five years down the line, the youth are still waiting.

Lack of a youth policy has meant the Government behaves like a headless chicken in trying to solve the problems afflicting the young people.

"The reality is that little has been done to give the young people dignity by creating for them decent jobs," said Prof Terry Ryan, a respected economic consultant.

All along the Government has failed to pump resources in an education and training system that prepares the youth for the job market or one that empowers them to be entrepreneurs.

Instead the system has instilled an altitude that only white-collar jobs are fashionable and according to Ryan "overproduce sign-writers".

According to a World Bank report, failure to invest in better education and job training for the young people only sows widespread disillusionment and social tensions.

"Without opportunities for productive civic engagement, young people's frustrations may boil over into economic and social tensions, creating long-simmering disputes," states the World Development Report 2007 on Development and the Next Generation.

Enter the Youth Fund

The establishment of the Youth Enterprise Development Fund in June 2006 was hailed by all and sundry as the Holy Grail that would arrest the problem of youth unemployment.

With an initially budget of Sh1 billion that was increased to Sh1.5 billion in the last budget, the fund’s objective was to provide credit facilities to youth enterprises to enable them thrive.

"The fund demonstrates the Government’s commitment to increasing jobs opportunities for the young people," said Prof Hellen Sambili, the Minister for Youth Affairs.

While the decision to establish the fund was noble, the achievements so far are noting short of disappointing.

The stringent and cumbersome regulations like demanding that only registered groups, companies or cooperatives can apply meant that qualifying was next to impossible.

This has forced the Government to rethink the lending structure and allow individuals to apply.

Can the fund be termed a success? Hardly. This is because the attitude of young people towards self-employment is indifferent and majority lack the fire in their bellies to make the sacrifices needed to succeed.

"The youth require attitude change to enable them see and seize opportunities that exist around them," said the PM.

He added the Government is pursuing youth leadership and attitude training programs and already 1000 young people have been trained.

Despite the initiatives, the challenge of youth unemployment still persists. This is forcing the Government to resort to desperate measures to create jobs for the young people.

Some of these measures like the ill conceived Kazi kwa Vijana programme launched last month only offers stop gap solutions to a deeply rooted problem that requires long term interventions.

Plans to employ 300,000 youths over the next six months in activities like tree planting, road construction and agriculture does not solve the problem of youth unemployment, it only postpones it.

To paraphrase former World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz, the time has never been better for the Government to invest in transforming the lives of the young people. In the meantime, the clock is ticking.