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The increasing number of jobless Kenyans should prick our conscience and we must start asking tough questions on youth unemployment.

The goal of any government is to grow the economy. The youth being the engine of growth, there is need to tweak monetary and fiscal policies to stimulate job creation.

Shipping them to countries like Saudi Arabia, Dubai, and Germany is good, but it will not solve the problem. It will only buy time, but things will get tougher because we cannot take everyone to work abroad. We must have a conversation about creating jobs right here in Kenya.

This must involve creating a good environment to attract more investors and also by ensuring companies are not closing shop, but helping them to expand so as to employ more people.

As it stands, Kenya is on the precipice. At a graduation ceremony at JKUAT recently, Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua broke the sad news. The “honest man” told graduands that there were no jobs waiting for them.

He, however, offered that through the government-sponsored housing schemes, some may be lucky to land some jobs. Of course, the students were not amused but the truth was laid bare for them to chew, as they were advised to be more creative and create jobs.

This is the unfortunate reality facing Kenyans today, a country which is experiencing a youth bulge – a term used to describe a population in which the proportion of youth exceeds the proportion of those aged 35 or above.

With about a quarter of Kenyans aged between 18 and 34, and even more strikingly, those under the age of 15 make up 43 per cent of the population, this is a ticking time bomb and an urgent solution is required to make them engaged in gainful employment.

Apart from housing projects which are creating construction jobs, there is no known mega strategy to employ the millions of youths out there.

What Kenya needs are strategies and concerted efforts for high-impact investments in areas such as ICT, manufacturing, and value addition for more local products.

Take the ICT sector for example, which is among high-growth areas, and a low-lying fruit that can easily create millions of jobs for the youths given a better business environment.

With a growing appetite for increased taxes, what has not been said is how the increase in taxes may work against attempts to spur growth in various sectors.

The other concern is what the government can do to ensure there is more money for businesses so as to stimulate the economy.

Maybe it is about time the State considers lowering lending rates so as to increase the money supply so that banks can have more cash at their disposal to lend cheaply.

With cheaper rates of say 10 per cent, which this government had envisioned during campaigns, it will even push more people to go for mortgages to help further the affordable housing dream.

Remember how cheap credit during Kibaki’s tenure saw Kenya reap huge dividends? As more Kenyans take affordable credit, various sectors expanded, leveraging increased demand, and the economy flourished.

Further, a high tax regime hurts the economy, and there is a need to cushion traders through reliefs and tax cuts. Why?

The pain of tax on consumers will soon be felt in the form of reduced disposable income, which will affect demand for goods which again hurts the economy on declining consumption.

Allowing households have more disposable income stimulates demand, and as for the businesses, savings from tax cuts will help in growth and expansion, which includes job creation.

Unfortunately, Kenya being a net importer of most goods, the benefits may not have the desired effect, since we end up benefitting the source markets.

A World Bank report dubbed Kenya Economic Update: Rising above the waves (2021), estimates that between 2020 and 2029, the working-age population in Kenya will increase by an average of one million per year. This means job creation efforts must now be on steroids.