LETTERS: Unlock the maritime industry to create jobs

Kenya has in the recent years realized the great potential that exists in the maritime sector fondly referred to as the ‘blue economy’ but unfortunately, the country has been sluggish in creating serious measures that would tap this goldmine even as the country grapples with the high rate of unemployment among the youth.

The country has treated the industry, which in 2015 was estimated to have contributed a whopping $ 1.83 billion to Gross Domestic Product (GDP), so unfairly that we lack even basic data on how the sector can contribute to economic growth. Although the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics has been able to generate a lot of data on other sectors, the same cannot be said of the maritime sector, which has not received a fair share of budgetary allocation, a situation made even complex by the global nature of the industry.