The government has been urged to invest in adult education and elevate Kenya's literacy levels to boost economic growth.
Economist Charlie Robertson says a country's economic growth is somewhat directly proportional to its literacy level.
"For a country to take off, the population must be literal, they must have electricity," Robertson said.
Robertson, an award-winning global economist and author of 'Time Travelling Economist' spoke on Wednesday in Nairobi.
He said improved literacy levels is the bare minimum before any government should think of investment in electricity, power or roads.
In 2021, the government noted a decrease in the number of learners enrolling for adult education in the country.
An economic survey report conducted by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics said enrollment of females reduced compared to males.
It also noted a drop in male enrollment with 65,497 male adults having enrolled in 2019 compared to 59,458 enrolled in 2020.
Whereas female adults who enrolled for adult education in 2019 was much higher compared to men at 143,585, it dropped to 120,937 in 2020.
On electricity, Robertson said that countries with more affordable and reliable electricity have an upper hand to grow faster than those with more expensive electricity.
Tatu City Executive vice President Solomon Mahinda echoed his sentiments saying swift action is needed in addressing cost of electricity.
"Cost of electricity is a big limiting factor and we hope it can be a discussion to be heard and solved in the early days of the new administration," he said.
During his vetting, Energy and Petroleum CS nominee Davis Chirchir said Kenya should generate power from its resources.
He said the country has the capacity to generate more power from geothermal.
"We need to sit down and address the concern of the cost of electricity and we need to generate more from geothermal. When we are buying 400 megawatts from Ethiopia, we should be spending that resource on developing our own," he said.
