Why State’s pledge on jobs sounds hollow

By KENNETH KWAMA

The assistant minister for Labour in 1973, Mr Peter Fredrick Kibisu, was a colourless politician.

But founding President Jomo Kenyatta liked him for one reason - he could explain himself out of any situation and never lacked ‘good’ answers to justify a situation, however bad.

He exhibited this trait on the floor of Parliament on June 20, 1973, when he told the House that the Government was fully aware of the chronic unemployment situation in Kenya and that every effort was being made to solve the problem.

The East African Standard on June 21, 1973, reported thus: “The Ministry of Labour had already established an Employment Creation Department with officers responsible for exploring ways and means of putting more and more able-bodied Kenyans in employment.”

Not much is known about what happened to the ministry’s Employment Creation Department, but a special report titled Jobless Kenya: The Anatomy of a National Crisis, carried in yesterday’s The Standard shows that unemployment is still a major headache in the country.

The series vindicates the old saying that the more things change, the more they stay the same.

With the exception of Heads of State and expansion of a few major roads in the country, little has changed in the past 40 years and the best example of this inertia is lack of jobs.

Kibisu’s job story was headlined: Government ‘all out to solve jobs shortage.’ The country is still treated to the same headlines regularly as Government officials work themselves silly trying to mystify a situation Kenyans have become accustomed to since independence.

The issue of unemployment was supposed to be eliminated when Kenya attained self-rule in 1963, but this didn’t happen.

The tradition of subsequent governments promising to tackle unemployment, however, continued with the Moi and Kibaki presidencies. The younger Kenyatta seems to be following in the same footsteps.

The overarching theme of this story is that the Government has been aware of the chronic unemployment situation in the country since independence, but the pledge that it is ‘doing everything in its ability to eliminate it’ should be taken with a pinch of salt as it has become a swansong.

The current unemployment situation appears to be bad, if not worse, than the crisis of the 1970s.  In percentage terms, it looks worse as the population has more than tripled. It is also more sinister in absolute numbers.

Official statistics indicate that the annual demand for new jobs in Kenya stands at 500,000, but the economy created a paltry 64,900 opportunities last year.

Nearly a million people join the labour market every year.

According to the on-going series on job crisis, a fresh graduate has two per cent chance of getting the job they have applied for.

“Poor employment creation policies have ensured that Kenya imports most of its needs, including eggs that can be produced at home, which in essence translates into exporting the jobs,” states the report.

Perhaps the best indicator that not much has changed in the past 40 years is a paragraph in the 1973 story, which states that Kenya was at that time faced with serious unemployment.

“Yet, it was not uncommon to find officers entrusted with monies for certain employment oriented projects misusing the money, and not making a good use of it.”

MAJOR HEADACHE

While the problem is the same, growing unemployment in current circumstances has translated into a major headache for the society. Unlike the unemployed youths of 1973, the current ones are more educated and those who turn to crime to earn a living are more sophisticated.

Yesterday’s headline story in The Standard of a graduate gangster is an indicator that the fever pitch situation of joblessness is translating into a serious social nightmare.

It is supposed to be a worldwide phenomenon but the latest statistics are giving broader hints to the country to take the situation more seriously.

Youths have been hit hard by the crisis. Kenyans, including graduates who have attained university education, have not been spared.

Globally, 196 million people remain jobless. Projections by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) indicate global unemployment will continue to rise until it hits 210.6 million by 2017.

Another new trend being seen in the current unemployment situation in the country that was never witnessed in 1973 is the rise in part-time employment, often termed as self-employment, by skilled and semi-skilled workers.

In Kenya, there has been a remarkable rise in the class of ‘consultants’, which covers most part-time workers. Contrary to the belief that this class of workers are in control of their destiny, most of them don’t have the leeway to choose their undertakings voluntarily.

But in most cases, as they mature into their jobs and reach stages where they need better pay, they are thrown out by their employers.

The same employers often re-employ them as ‘consultants’ or ‘advisors’ at much lower emoluments.