Youth Unemployment In Kenya; My Degree Could Only Afford Me A Watchman Job

Compiled By Lilian Wamaitha

The high rise of unemployment in Kenya is a thorn in everyone’s flesh, especially the young people who are supposed to be the drivers of the economy.

With young brilliant minds, graduating everyday with the hope of securing jobs to improve their lives, reality dawns on them after their years of handwork goes down the drain in an uncertain job market.

In a recent survey by UNDP, 39.1% of Kenyan youths are unemployed compared to Uganda’s 18.1%.

Boniface Kirui, 26 makes up the statistics of jobless youths still struggling to find their way in this economy.

A young man who has always excelled in school since his primary days, now has to walk to work to make save enough to support his family and his life in Nairobi.

Armed with a degree in Business Management (Finance and Accounting) and CPA, Kirui was dreaming of finding a good job probably in the banking industry and earning enough money to support his younger siblings so that they could have a future like him.

However, months down the line after sending numerous applications, he began to wonder where he went wrong.

Growing up in a small village in Bomet County, his childhood was always smooth. Being a first born, with parents keen to see him succeed, he never lacked anything.

His father then a soldier in the Kenya Army and his mother a housewife and a farmer, ensured that he went to school and got himself a good education.

He did his KCPE in 2006 and managed to score, 341 out of the possible 500 marks and was lucky to be admitted to Longisa Boys’ High School, by then a provincial school.

His parents ensured that he was not sent home due to school fees and as a young man he understood the importance of working hard in school.

Most of the people from the village he could look up to as successful were soldiers or police officers but he wanted to trend a different path.

He wanted to work hard in school so that he could join university and make his dreams of being a banker come true.

His hard work paid off, and when the 2010 KCSE results were announced and he had managed to score a B plain of 62 points.

His dream was just now drawing closer and he was admitted in Moi University, Kericho campus to pursue a Bachelor of Business Degree (Finance & Accounting). Nobody could have been happier than Boniface.

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Changing Tides

It was while at the university that life changed. His younger siblings had already joined high school and this meant that the parents had to struggle to pay school feels for all the children.

With his parents struggling financially, he had to do menial jobs to at least earn pocket money and lessen the burden of paying school fees.

“I started hawking second hand clothes mainly t-shirts and jean trousers to survive through school.”

At other times he would work as a messenger twice a week when he didn’t have classes for companies in Eldoret town, earning at least Ksh.50 per task and making about Ksh.150 at the end of the day.

“Though it was just two days in a week, at least the little I made kept me going and I would invest the amount in my business.”

However, the business could not amount into anything as the little profit he made, was still catering for his up keep in school and to pay his school fees.

For the four years he was in school, he had to juggle between learning and working to at least sustain himself in school.

His dream was to become a banker

“All my life, I have always dreamt of working in a bank. I dreamt of wearing suits and heading to work every morning. However, this has not come to be. Instead, I work as a security guard at Agape Court in Makadara Estate, Nairobi.”

Like many job seekers, he too has been sending out job applications but until now, nobody has even invited him for an interview.

After graduation he applied for a job as a PTA teacher where he taught until November, 2016 because he wasn’t being paid.

Like everyone who dreams of a good life and a job in Nairobi, he packed his bags and booked a ticket to Nairobi. He had an old friend who promised to host him as he looked for a job.

However, no jobs came his way and not wanting to starve, he settled for the only job that was available at that time.

With a degree in Business Management, Boniface now had to work as a security guard, seeing that they were the only people willing to employ him.

With a salary of Ksh.7,000 per month, Kirui has been living with the friend in Kibera Slums,. The rent amounts to Ksh.2500 and he has little to send back home.

He now walks to work

The little money that remains is not enough to see him through the month and so he has opted for other options. Walking to work!

And so in the early morning hours at around 5AM, you will meet Kirui, in his blue and white uniform braving the cold weather with a small bag and a wooden club trying to make it to work because he is supposed to arrive before dawn breaks.

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Wasted efforts and money

Putting into consideration that his parents struggled to see him through school, ensuring that he didn’t lack anything, they feel that they wasted their resources though they haven’t given up on him yet.

This is the same thing that Kirui feel. Like his parents, he feels like he wasted their money seeing that nothing has amounted from their struggle.

“Looking back, this degree has not done anything to improve my life,” he says pointing at the certificate in his hands.

His parents are still struggling with two siblings in high school and another one in primary school, and yet he feels so helpless.

Since 2012, many universities have been running incubation programs meant to encourage innovation and youth entrepreneurship. The concern is in whether these programs are working the way they are supposed to.

Kirui feels that though the education system is to blame for the number of jobless youths in the country, there is still more that the government can do to prepare graduates to transit into the job market.

As the sun sets to mark the end of yet another day, Kirui like so many youths out there can only hope that tomorrow will bring better tidings.

From a distance, his mother’s words still echo a better tomorrow for him, “Your time will come, my son.”

Source: Daily Nation