The rate of unemployment in Kenya is high in all terms. People wake up to look for work in major cities
with no success. Most youths are unemployed from 18 through to 35 years with no hope of ever getting work. People look for work and end up giving up ever getting their dream jobs.
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Where did this problem start?
With the rise in population, there are more people in Kenya than in the ’80s when you went to school you
are assured of securing a job in the future. The rate of unemployment in Kenya was at 7% with the unemployed being people who want higher salaries. However, today the problem is not choosing work or salary there is nothing to do with or without papers.
Around 50% of the youths have no work at all. Additionally, the rest of 20% are on freelancing while the others are in the Juakali sector. Only 5% get jobs like teaching, doctors, nurses, etc.
The government since 2002, emphasized infrastructure growth more than human resources. It builds
more roads than factories. GOK made SGR with more money than pumping money into agriculture. With the drought to blame for the low agricultural harvest, the youth who would otherwise work on the farms are job seekers.
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How can the government (GoK) reduce the rate of unemployment in Kenya?
We need to revive the agricultural sector. We have land on which we can grow crops. Most land in Kenya is arid and semi-arid and has not been used for decades. This land lacks water because there are no rains years in and years out. If the government can dig boreholes in these lands, irrigate the land as the government project, and plant drought tolerant crops like cotton, sunflower, cactus fruits i.e prickly pear, black seeds, etc.
In each zone, a particular crop is to be grown and a corresponding factory. Those lands should be
borrowed from owners and once the startup kicks up the owners can keep them under government
supervision.
The government should build factories in every county to process the crops from the farmers. Those
who grow cabbages refrigerated stores should be built and all the perishable vegetables should be sold to the stores.
The government will be able to hire idlers to work on these projects. People should be discouraged from idleness if the project kicks up. Every Kenyan of the age of 18 should possess a work identification to ensure that everybody is actively looking for work.
The government should actively look for markets for the products to the outside world to ensure that surplus has a market for it. With this initiative, we will not only eradicate poverty, hunger, and overdependence on government but we will create employment.
We are poor because we don’t work and we have no opportunities. The opportunities have to be
the government initiated and supervised.