Kenya's envoy to Australia Wilson Kogo has called for enhanced efforts to skill more youth so that they benefit from wide job opportunities in Australia.
Kogo said Australia needs thousands of workers and Kenya will benefit if the country trains more youth to have the required skills.
He said the training offered at colleges in Kenya must resonate well with the needs of Australia’s labour market.
Kogo says Kenya has had a 60 years diplomatic relationship with Australia and the current engagement is on how the two nations can benefit from each other.
“We have engagements on how best to benefit from our diplomatic relations and education is one of the areas that has come out, with plans to share a lot right from university, TVET sector to basic education."
He said Australia has a fairly aged population and Kenya has a younger population that can take up the jobs available.
Kogo spoke at Eldoret National Polytechnic during an open forum between the Signet Institute from Australia and prospective trainees and parents.
He was with chief principal Dr Charles Koech and a team from Signet led by Ali Muhammad.
The envoy said Australia as in need of labour and Kenya can benefit.
Kogo outlined key sectors in Australia where manpower was required and noted that with necessary skilling the country was well placed to be the source of labour for Australia.
He appreciated the TVET sector and President Ruto’s vision to ensure as many youth as possible are skilled well to benefit from opportunities abroad.
Eldoret polytechnic has been selected to offer the required training for the Australian market.
A section of community representatives and parents led Benjamin Leting and Wilson Kipruto praised Dr Koech for spearheading quality training programmes at TENP
Leting said they had full confidence in Dr Koech and more youth will enroll for training at the polytechnic.
”We also urge the government to release required capitation to ensure that Eldoret polytechnic trains more youth under TVET programmes”, he said.
Kogo said they target to start with about 1,000 students but the opportunities available in Australia were massive and the initiative would be expanded to benefit more Kenyans.
The envoy praised the government for revoking licenses of more than 60 rogue recruitment agencies, thus dealing with challenges that were ruining the country’s image abroad.
Kenya had been classified at Level 3 because of the gaps in recruitment for the foreign opportunities but the country could attain Level 1 in the near future if all things are done on the right manner.
The envoy said they would also engage employers in Australia so they are onboard to offer job opportunities for skilled Kenyans.
