This archive report was first published on 3 August 2019.
Published on August 3, 2019, a World Bank report indicated that the unemployment rate in Kenya was set to rise, leaving many young people struggling to find jobs.
One such story that stirred the hearts of Kenyans was that of Kelvin Ochieng, a first-class honours Actuarial Science graduate who washed cars for a living. His story sparked a flood of job offers and pitiful stories from others who faced similar challenges.
However, the conversation has shifted to demanding that youth shift their mindsets, become creative, volunteer, and take up internships. But is this a realistic expectation?
Volunteering and interning have been touted as the 'first step' to securing a job, but they often come with a catch – the need for bus fare and lunch money to travel to the workplace. Who is supposed to facilitate this?
Employers who control the purse strings should take responsibility for ensuring that volunteering and interning work for the youth. Perhaps the tens of organisations that offered Mr Ochieng employment could consider this as a long-term solution.
Let's cut our jobless youth some slack because the truth is, they're also responding in the right way to this country's reality. The story of the Sh52 million bank heist in Thika in 2017 brings this to sharp focus.
The father of two of the suspects, who were straight A engineering graduates, said he was not shocked about the alleged robbery because they were a reflection of the corruption and scandal that they had been exposed to.
