• It emerged that a technical training institute in Mombasa lost out on a potential Sh1.2 billion investment because it didn't have a title deed.
• PS also cites a poor attitude towards technical training at the Coast.
Image: BRIAN OTIENO
Coastal administrators have been urged to help secure technical and vocational education training institutes’ land and process title deeds for them.
This followed reports that a technical training institute in Mombasa lost out on a potential Sh1.2 billion investment from a development partner because it didn't have a title deed.
Some 12 acres that had been donated to the Ahmed Shahame Mwidani Technical Training Institute by the Kenya Airports Authority had been grabbed, posing a threat to the livelihoods of thousands of youth in search of technical skills to gain employment.
The institution missed out on the Sh1.2 billion investment by a German institute German Corporation for International Cooperation. The agency wanted to invest in hospitality and engineering workshops at the institution.
Technical and Vocational Training PS Kevit Desai on Tuesday said technical education at the Coast is crucial for the youth, "who are wasting away because of unemployment, mostly due to lack of skills".
Desai, however, said the government has intervened and is in the process of reclaiming the land.
Yesterday, the PS told the Star on the phone that technical and vocational training is the most important enabler to raising families out of the poverty line to greater levels of prosperity.
The investment by the German agency would have ensured that the TTI became a centre of excellence in hospitality.
“But when they realised we have no title deed, the pulled out saying it was too risky for them,” the institute’s principal Stephen Ngome said on the phone on Tuesday.
Ngome, who also chairs the Kenya Association of Technical Training Institutes Coast, told the Star that the title has been revoked.
“The land has already been taken back to the KAA. We are waiting for them to write a specification letter saying the land has been given to us,” Ngome said.
This is the second TVET institution in Mombasa to have fallen prey to land grabbers.
The Kenya Coast National Polytechnic lost 22 acres of and in Shanzu to grabbers.
The institution is set to become a centre of excellence in maritime logistics as the country gears towards reaping from the blue economy.
The institution’s principal Mary Muthoka says they are limited in terms of expansion.
“We cannot do much expansion yet we are getting more student enrolment,” Muthoka said.
Desai said the issue of land grabbing and a poor attitude towards education will cost the region’s youth job opportunities. He said youth, parents and leaders at the Coast have not embraced technical and vocational education and training.
The Coast has registered a paltry five per cent enrolment in TVET institutions compared to the national enrolment, he said.
Acting TVET director Tom Mulati urged the Coast community to send their children to technical colleges.
He said enrolment at Ahmed Shahame Mwidani TTI stands at 400 students against a capacity of 1,500 since it was registered in 2016, compared to Konoin TTI in Bomet county which started at the same time but now has more than 2,000 students.
Desai said the Coast needs more vigorous sensitisation campaigns about the benefits of TVETs.
Edited by R.Wamochie