BARAYAN: Unemployment fuels insecurity

Some time back I listened as a much-celebrated local online radio show interviewed a knowledgeable journalist from Somalia on a variety of topics, including al Shabaab terror group.

The talk proved to be very informative. The thing that I found very surprising is that about 40 per cent of the militia is made up of members who are not of Somali ethnicity.

According to the journalist, 40 per cent of al Shabaab militants are of Kenyan ethnic origin – excluding Kenyan Somali. Even more unexpected is that the data as explained indicated that Kenyan al Shabaab recruits are from Western (40 per cent), Central (30 per cent) and the Coast (30 per cent) regions.

The coastal region is known to have the largest Islamic population, hence, the insightfulness of this data, as one would have presumed the region to be the primary recruiting ground for the extremist group. The reason for these unlikely findings was stated as, simply, acute youth unemployment and poverty.

The average Kenyan youth has been found to be generally cognisant of their need to be responsible children and where possible to give some support to their parents. There is shame in having destitute parents who live in squalor while having brought up able-bodied children.

This stems out of the religious upbringing most youth have undergone and in-built African software of respect for elders.

Therefore, one of the indicators of possible illegal activity is unexplained increased funds being sent to parents of youth who have left home without a trace for unknown destinations and engaged in unidentifiable jobs.

Within the Coast, 10 or so years ago, there would be street whispers and speculations about unexplained income of a particular family from where a youth had left without notice or ceremony.

This always attracted more attention from the security apparatus than if it happened in other parts of Kenya. This was because it was assumed that in other parts of Kenya, the jobless youth had gone to Nairobi to seek their fortunes.

It could be for this reason that the number of youth going into Somalia was presumed to be largely from the Coast, whereas it never was purely because of the high Islamic population.

What then is to be done with the annual national injection of approximately one million youth into the job market, when the total number of formal sector employed countrywide is 3,200,000 persons?

Of the formally employed, the government employs a third while the rest are employed by the private sector. This is but one of the tasks that the government has to address with urgency as a matter of security concern.

The Philippines, which has a population of about 113 million, approximately double that of Kenya, has an annual remittance of $40 billion (Sh5.5 trillion). This is 10 times the remittance of Kenya.

This is attributed to the Philippines government’s efforts and structures formed to facilitate employment abroad. Overseas Filipino Workers Organization being one such institution dedicated to this.

It is perhaps such statistics and data that have driven President William Ruto to relentlessly personally seek opportunities for Kenyan youth employment abroad, in person or virtual jobs.

Data released by Bloomberg ranks Kenyans as the third most industrious foreigners working abroad, giving endless possibilities to our local youth.

Therefore, this strategy, when supported with prerequisite institutions, like the State Department for Diaspora Affairs, has a very high probability of success.

The youth have at least two primary advantages over older workers: they have energy and time. The energy  must be deployed in the opportunity presented. And they have the time to productively improve their livelihoods.

In the absence of opportunities, the youth can easily be diverted into regrettable activity with little to no nation-building. That would make them a powder keg waiting to explode.

Lawyer