About 80 per cent of East Africa’s population is below 35 years of age, and the median age is estimated at 18. Our future is in the hands of this unprecedented large proportion of young people. Hence, the future is not out there, nor is it some unknowable instance on the misty horizon.
Through the combined actions or omissions of the old and young, we are employed in the active construction of both the present and the future. But more specifically, the youth today are the true curators of the future.
The East African Institute of the Aga Khan University commissioned a survey of youth in Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda and Tanzania between 2014 and 2015 to understand their values and attitudes, concerns and aspirations. To paraphrase Irish author, political theorist and philosopher Edmund Burke; if we understand the sentiments that preoccupy youth today, we can shape what the future could look like.
The Kenya Youth Survey report released in Nairobi reveals important and surprising insights, and offers reasons both for optimism, deep concern and the need for urgent action. Moreover, some of the findings are contradictory and counterintuitive.
The good news is that Kenya is not hopelessly fractured along ethnic lines: 40 per cent of youth identify as Kenyans first while 35 per cent identify as youth first. About 12 per cent identify by their faith first. Less than five per cent identify by their ethnicity first. Less than one per cent identify as East Africans first. Moreover, when asked what they value most, 85 per cent value faith first, 60 per cent value family first, 45 per cent value work first.
The report also suggests that we could be reaping the benefits of massive expansion of primary and secondary education. About 78 per cent of the youth had post-primary education. Only 22 per cent had primary education as the highest level of education.
What is cause for deep concern is the dearth of integrity. About 30 per cent believe corruption is profitable, 50 per cent believe it does not matter how one makes money as long as one does not end up in jail, only 40 per cent strongly believe that it is important to pay taxes, 35 per cent would readily take or give a bribe and, more than 70 per cent are afraid to stand up for what is right for fear of retribution.
Moreover, while 70 per cent of the youth believe it is important to vote, 62 per cent are vulnerable to electoral fraud, with 40 per cent stating categorically they would only vote for a candidate who bribed them.
About 50 per cent of the youth were aware of government initiatives for youth. But only 24 per cent have benefited from government-initiated youth programmes. Unemployment and lack of access to capital were the two most important concerns the youth feel must be addressed urgently. About 68 per cent of young rural women were unemployed. Nearly one in two youth with a university degree was unemployed. While 48 per cent would like to go into business, only one in five youth are in self-employment.
The youth are optimistic and pessimistic about the future. Optimistic because 77 per cent believe Kenya will be richer materially, with better access to quality education and health, and more jobs for youth; 67 per cent believe society will reward merit and hard work. Pessimistic because 40 per cent believe there will be more corruption, and 30 per cent believe the country will be poorer in ethics and values, and substance abuse will be rampant.
The staggering lack of opportunity and the dearth of integrity among youth demand urgent action. The capacity of our economy to create opportunity for the youth remains weak, especially in the decade when Kenya recorded the highest headline GDP growth. A high tolerance for corruption, tax evasion and a corruptible electorate could stymie economic progress and undermine democracy by making politics and leadership the preserve of a corrupt cabal.
The Kenya Youth Survey report does not prescribe solutions or policy recommendations. Instead, it furnishes key evidence that could inform the collective search for a shared framework for policies, programmes and actions necessary to prepare Kenya’s youth to thrive and lead in a competitive and globalised world. The report is also an invitation to all stakeholders to earnestly dialogue, debate and ask new questions to inform and shape new research priorities.
Dr Awiti is the director of the East African Institute at Aga Khan University, Nairobi.