Kenya losing economists to global agencies

By Luke Anami

A shortage of talent in the country is posing long-term challenges unless the Government and universities institute reforms to stimulate student interest in the field of economics.

University of Nairobi Vice Chancellor George Magoha said the flight of economists to other countries and international agencies was alarming.

Prof Magoha made the revelations during the launch of an academic partnership programme with the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in Nairobi last week.

The WTO-chaired programme, is considered a remedy that could address the shortage will support teaching, research and outreach activities in the field of economics and trade negotiations at the University. "It is becoming difficult to train and retain economists," Magoha said.

"Out of last year’s five PhD graduands in Economics, the university has only retained two. The rest have been snapped by other international institutions and organisations," he said.

This scenario is due to the failure by local higher institutions of learning to produce PhD holders in the field of economics to meet market demand. "There is a high demand on the international market," Magoha said.

But the key challenge, the VC observed, is the inability of Kenya to retain its own talent.

Many economics undergraduates either divert their career paths to other fields or pursue graduate degrees abroad and never return.

"There are two primary reasons for the shortage of PhDs in economics in Kenya," he said.

Human Capital

First, the Government has based educational policies on egalitarianism that does not give attention to nurturing students or transforming universities into competitive research institutions.

Another reason for the flight of human capital is the country’s brain drain. Parents prefer to send their children to universities outside the country due lack of flexibility with admissions.

These graduates finally opt to remain outside Kenya in pursuit of good pay.