Data has it that Kenya has a notably young population, with a significant portion of its citizens being under the age of 35. The overall youth population according to the 2019 census, (in the 18-35 years bracket) constituted 67% of the total population of approximately 47.5 million. Sources that are more recent also state that around 75-80% of the population is below 35 years old. It is nerve wrecking that the most of the youth in Kenya are unemployment, cannot find work and or are simply disenfranchised.
It is interesting that despite the scientifically generated figures and the reality on the ground, by design or by default, economists and planners in the government have not found it necessary to harness this critical population mass. By design, the ruling class and the politico-preneurs find this as herd reserved for their campaigns and voting activities. They come in handy as noisemakers and tools for intimidating opponents often with a bribe of cheap alcohol and or few coins. They are also important to politicians when it commissions bogus projects like work-for-food (read Kazi Mtaani) from which they are paraded donning cheap uniform and hand tools. By default, they are many and against limited resources and competitive employment posts.
The United Nation pinpoints that high levels of youth unemployment can lead to increased poverty, social unrest, and a greater burden on public resources. This is the true picture of the state of affairs in Kenya.
We however, have made it difficult for the youth to gain employment by first putting structural hurdles like certificate authentication and clearance certificates. For one to get government jobs, one has to source for certificate of good conduct (police clearance certificate), Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) Clearance, Higher Education Loans Board (HELB) Clearance Certificate, Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) Tax Compliance Certificate (TCC) and Credit Reference Bureau (CRB) Clearance Certificate. The youth I have consulted have told me that ideally, for one to get all these certificates, online costs, transport and government charges will cost on average 10,000 shillings, which is a tall order for many youth who in the first place are looking for employment.
To crown the pain of searching for employment, many employers will ask for employment history spanning from one year to three years. This is self-defeating in that for people looking for entry position jobs will be automatically be locked out the same opportunities.
Nepotism has pushed many youth to a level of desperation since the ‘do-you-know-someone’ culture is the magic wand one needs to use to open employment doors. Relative will push for jobs for their siblings and relatives even when they are clearly not qualified and or deserving. This is worsened also by the culture of corruption whereby if one does not have a godfather or godmother, then bribes or kickbacks is what might save them.
The only alternative and panacea to the unemployment crisis in Kenya can only be the business route. However, this route is a rut riddled with many challenges which many a youth find too hard to surmount.
Economically, the youth in Kenya hold no meaningful means of production. The family oligarchs hold Land for the case of the rural youth while the urban bred ones have to be confined in informal settlements and or crowd in matchbox size single rooms in low-income estates. In terms of capital, the youth in Kenya, though loaded with great entrepreneurial skills backed by enthusiasm and energy, they do not have creditworthiness from financial bodies and therefore unable to actualize their dreams. Without financial worth, the youth employ the labor force required for meaningful production be it in agriculture, factories, transport or construction of infrastructure. In terms of technology and machinery, for meaningful production to occur, the trick lies in mass production and this requires heavy machinery, which are expensive to acquire and install. This scenario will only perpetuate the cycle of poverty for generations to come.
I had a conversation with a young relative recently and in verbatim, the lad told me, uncle please publish an article on youth unemployment. A lot of us are unemployed including and messing the society with increased drug abuse, teen pregnancies, crime and our mental wellbeing is wrecked. No one is listening to us and we are suffering in silence.
It should prick our society’s conscience that we cannot have the majority of the population being the young but confined to the peripheries of the economy and decision-making. Since June 2024, what began as a simple street protests should make everyone take notice that the youth bulge in this country is real and must be involved in decision making and wealth creation. The beauty of it is that the young generation has clarity of thought and able to analyze situations and figure out the best interventions. They are also exposed to modern ways of leveraging on technology, media and social networking.
Though the government has some avenues for bailing out the youth like the youth fund and the women enterprise fund, it also leaves a lot to be desired by the fact that even sourcing those funds becomes a challenge as getting collaterals and guarantors also becomes a challenge.
It should be an awakening call for all Kenyans and especially those charged with the responsibility of planning to critical think and find solutions to the youth unemployment in Kenya. The late Pope Francis once quipped, “We cannot resign ourselves to losing a generation of young people who do not have the dignity of work! A generation without work is a future defeat for the country and for humanity.” If this is not done urgently, the consequences might be too costly for us to bear.
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