- There is a glut and oversupply of gifted talent chasing ever-diminishing opportunities.
- For example, our banks are employing graduates to do clerical jobs as counter tellers.
Image: OZONE
To call our situation dire, doesn't begin to describe or betray the circumstances that our great nation confronts and finds itself in.
Fortunately, not only are we hardworking; but our societal values and virtues want to see our offspring grow beyond measure and our planned dreams, for them.
Are the proposed raft of tax increases justifiable? I will let you be the judge.
There is a glut and oversupply of gifted talent chasing ever-diminishing opportunities.
For example, our banks are employing graduates to do clerical jobs as counter tellers.
As if this is not enough, your average graduate's remuneration cannot sustain a mortgage.
The watchmen speak impeccable English. They are form 4's.
The incomes of graduates and clerks are well below global parity.
An indictment on those charged with the responsibility of generating opportunities creatively. They are sleeping while on duty - my generation.
If this is disgusting to you, then let us act together.
We need a surge. For me it's financing more education, particularly in entrepreneurship at the tertiary level backed with seed capital.
This calls for education reform.
And we must manufacture.
A compounded year-on-year growth rate of 5 per cent is a service-oriented economy.
Manufacturing guarantees a 15 per cent compounded rate. We have no option.
Nairobi Stock Exchange index only has 2 manufacturing companies - BAT & Breweries .
The rest are Safaricom and banks. We are indeed a service economy.
I will hence skew my contribution toward financing education.
We have all invested heavily, rightfully so, in education. Unfortunately, it has not been enough.
This is not acceptable, or sustainable.
So invested are we in this promise that we are even prepared to sell family heirlooms and do harambees to ensure that subsequent generations achieve goals beyond measure and even our imagination.
Education has no shortage of inspiring quotes, but perhaps the most relevant one in the present circumstances is Malcolm X's suggestion that - "Education is our passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs only to the people who prepare it today".
Education as seen through our African icon, Mandela advised us that - "Education is the most powerful weapon you can use to change the world" - is however being stiff-necked by our present economic circumstances.
So the question begs...
Should we buy into the idea of upward revision in taxes as a percentage of GDP?
Something must give.
It is a cause-and-effect challenge. Do we want to exit the 3rd world, by investing today?
The ball is on everyone's lap.
It is a simple question of whether we desire snail, leapfrog or moonshot outcomes.
The choice is yours
For those who are already thinking corruption, I have a solution.
The company act in Germany has two boards - Supervisory & Management.
There is no doubt that a review of the Company Act is overdue