New Act key step in achieving Kenya’s youth agenda on jobs

Unemployment is a big challenge in Kenya, especially among the youth. It is not only an economic issue but also a social one as idle youths are likely to engage in illegal activities such as taking drugs, crime and careless sexual behaviour.

Indeed the youth are the future of Kenya as well as any nation. Michelle Obama’s speech at the Democrat Convention 2016 emphasised this.

She spoke with passion about how the future of America is in the youth and that a good leader should be the one who is a good example to the youth. In my own view, her speech echoed and emphasised the importance of youths to a country’s future.

She endorsed Hillary Clinton as the Democrat presidential candidate. As a young lawyer Ms Obama was involved in youth affairs and later influenced a number of policies that favoured the youth and children.

The Kenyan government has made a lot of strides in youth matters.

In 2013, a lot of money was set aside to fund youth and women. A number of institutions were created or reformed to address youth issues, especially unemployment.

Unfortunately some of the institutions, for example, the National Youth Service (NYS) have been mired in a number of political and corruption scandals which in my view have really delayed the youth agenda.

However, I am glad to see a lot of regulatory reforms in youth affairs and I feel with proper implementation and enforcement will go a long way in supporting the youth agenda in Kenya.

Prior to 2010, there was not much policy on youth save for a few papers on unemployment in the informal sector.

This did little to promote youth agenda. The little known youth policy was, however, in place as early as 2006 and it sought to address a number of issues such as unemployment.

An onus was placed on the State to tackle this problem. In 2010, for the first time, the Bill of Rights recognised the rights of youth in article 55 of the Constitution.

Of relevance to today’s column is the right of a youth to seek and secure employment. Again, the State has an obligation to actualise this right. Kenya is also a signatory to a number of international treaties and charters on youth such as the UN Youth Charter.

In May, the National Employment Authority Act was passed. The law sets up an institution whose focus seems to be youth employment.

Initially, there was the National Employment Bureau which has been reformed to a new body that sets up a database for Kenyans seeking jobs and helps the government in employment policy issues.

It doubles up as a jobs agency where registered persons can be suitably placed in employment. What is more it assists in counselling and training unemployed youth. In the event of any job vacancies in public bodies, priority is given to registered members.

The authority also does a due diligence on prospective employers. In my view this new law shall impact the labour market.

First, it shall compete with job placement firms and human resource firms. Most job placement agencies and HR firms provide placement services at a fee usually a percentage of salary earned.

The new agency offers placement at no cost. I feel that the new law may minimise corruption and nepotism in the public hiring process. While it may not eliminate nepotism, it may significantly reduce it.

The agency will also be a reliable research and resource centre in employment issues in Kenya as this has been streamlined.

It will also ensure that youth hired by foreigners are secure such that no dubious employer employs youth from Kenya as has been the case with most Middle East job agencies.

Ms Mputhia is the founder of C Mputhia Advocates. Email: [email protected].