Name: Rotich Brian Cheruiyot

Registration Number: X75/5308/2020

Course Title: Political Economy

Course Code: XEA 102

Question One
Evaluate the strategies being undertaken by the national Government and your county government in
Sorting out the unemployment Crisis.

Youth Enterprise Development fund

This is a state corporation that is found under the Public Service, Gender, and Youth Affairs. Owing to the
challenges faced by the youth in finding employment, this fund was created in 2007 to address those
challenges. Its main aim is to transform the youth into job creators rather than job seekers. To reach many
youths in Kenya, Youth Enterprise Development Fund offices were created in different counties each having
its own sub-county/ constituency headquarters.
Functions of The Youth Enterprise Development fund
i) Provide loans to youth businesses – this has seen many youth businesses grow and develop
through the incorporation of new technologies, improvement in the quality of production,
increase in the stock of goods, and reinvestment into infrastructural improvements. These loans
have not only allowed the youth to improve their businesses but also, it has allowed them to start
a business by providing them with capital. The direct effect of this is that more employment is
created.
ii) Provide youth business with market exposure – this has been achieved through the facilitation
and support of small businesses owned by the youth, by creating linkages with much larger and
established businesses to provide mentorship programs and marketing of their goods and services
in domestic, regional, and international markets. Through this more business is attracted
increasing profits that can be put into the expansion of the business that will lead to more
employment.
iii) It facilitates youth to get employment from abroad – it has managed to do so by establishing
different partnerships with Private Employment Agencies, Training and Professional institutions
to enable the youth to secure employment abroad through:
• Financial training
• Pre-departure training
• Pre-interview training
• Sourcing for jobs
• Migration loans
This has led to stable jobs abroad and as a result, more Kenyans have been able to reinvest their
earnings in the Kenyan economy by establishing businesses and companies. As a result, more
jobs have been created.
 iv) It provides entrepreneurship training and business development services to the youth who engage
in business so that they gain appropriate skills in identifying and venturing into different business
opportunities at the same time embracing modern business management techniques. It also
provides a mandatory pre-financing training program so that youth businesses can be enhanced.
This has benefited over 351,000 youth across the country.
v) It provides the youth with decent work sites at affordable rates because of the high cost of regular
ones. This has seen both the county and private sector partnering up to establish a different
commercial infrastructure that is appropriate to the needs of youth businesses. As a result, they
have found appropriate and legal places to carry out their businesses. A conducive environment
to work can lead to significant improvement in business performance.

Achievements
i) It has provided 26,015 youths with employment abroad which has significantly improved the
living standards of not only them but their families. This has also contributed to economic growth
through remittances sent from abroad which are then used by their families in local consumption.
Businesses and companies have also been established by Kenyans working from abroad, leading
to an increase in job creation.
ii) It has facilitated 10,767 youth to market their product in both the domestic and foreign markets.
This has enabled the youth to grow their businesses resulting in more job creation. It has also
enhanced market access and linkages to available markets for youth products.
iii) It has enabled 1,653 youth to get access to affordable trading spaces. This has seen many of them
conduct businesses in a more conducive environment hence contributing to their business
growth. Enabling them to expand hence increasing their employment capacity. This has been
achieved through partnerships between the government and the private sector.
iv) It has overseen the facilitation of 508,368 youth in capacity building through training, coaching,
and mentorship. This has made many of them gain the necessary skills and knowledge to apply in
creating a successful business and identifying business opportunities.

TVET (Technical and Vocational Education and Training) Institutions

The county and the national government, have invested heavily in the establishment of TVET colleges.
According to the Higher Educations Loans Board (HELP)- there are 106 approved TVET- institutions
spread out across different counties in the country. TVETS are an important factor in reducing poverty and
creating sustainable employment in Kenya because it allows the youth to enter the workforce with the right
skills and knowledge. It also enables the youth to enter the job market much faster because the training
programs offered at TVET institutions are short.
The government, after realizing the economic potential that TVET institutions have enacted the TVET Act
of 2013 and other supportive Acts to stream-line the TVET sector to the constitution and the country’s
development plan. The Act created different agencies such as:
i) TVET authority – which serves the function of regulating and coordinating the TVET-sector in
the country.
ii) The TVET Curriculum Development Assessment and Certification Council (CDACC) - which
serves the function of designing and developing the TVET curriculum and also the assessment of
competence and certification.
iii) Kenya National Qualification Authority (KNQA) – which serves to enhance national
qualifications in the country.
iv) TVET Funding Board – which mobilizes resources for training.
v) State Department for Vocational and Technical Training – It provides oversight and leadership in
policy formulation and implementation.
These agencies all work together to continuously improve the quality of TVET institutions in Kenya.
Through the collaboration of different state organs and government agencies such as the Ministry of
labor – which has a responsibility for the development of the national occupation classification standards
– has brought out frameworks to determine the skills that are primarily required by the job market at the
organizational level. Also determining the skills that are highly in demand at the sectoral level. This in
collaboration with the new competency-based training, will allow the system to produce workers who
have highly developed skills that will lead to improved productivity and quality of products and services
delivered to the employers.

How TVETs Shape the Job Market

TVETs play a huge role in the economic growth of a country. This is majorly so because such
institutions address unemployment through the provision of skills, innovation, and knowledge at various
levels of the economy.
The Jubilee government’s big four agenda – Housing, Manufacturing, Universal Health, and Food
Security – will majorly be powered by the skills dished out by TVET training institutions. This is
because hands-on skills are required for the vision to become feasible. The government needs to absorb
at least 5 million students or 10% of the population in the next 5 years from the current 0.3% or 300,000
students, to meet its development agenda. It is only through the establishment, development, and
expansion of TVET institutions, that these jobs can be occupied.

BBI (Building Bridges Initiative)

Chapter Eleven of the Proposed Constitutional Reform on the Devolved Government seeks to make a series
of changes that will see more money being pumped into counties. The county government is responsible for
providing services such as health care, pre-primary education, and maintenance of local roads. To be able to
provide these services to the residence of the county, the national government allocates 15% of its budget to
the counties -which in the 2020-2021 financial year, amounted to 370 billion.
This 15% allocation to counties is often seen as inadequate for the county government to provide services,
pay its workers and invest in infrastructural development. As a result, many county project stall, essential
repairs are postponed and workers are unable to get paid. Being unable to solve basic issues such as these,
they will be unable to handle the major ones such as poverty and unemployment. To solve this problem the
BBI has contains measures and provides for changes to be made. The changes to the constitution that will
seek to eradicate the predicament that most counties face include:
i) Establishing a County Ward Development Fund.
The BBI report proposes that 5% of county government revenue should be dished out the wards.
If it was to be enacted in the constitution, MCAs will be given at least 20 million shillings to
control. An increase in the allocation of money will see more development take place at the
grass-root level. More and meaningful community projects can be established, more schools can
be built and through all these more employment opportunities will be created for the youths.
ii) Increasing the resources to the Counties from the current 15% to at least 35%
Such an increase will enable the county government to invest more money in infrastructure,
building more roads, establishing TVET institutions, funding youth projects, and attract more
investors to the county. As a result, more jobs will be created from all the labor required to
establish those projects. Investors will also create more jobs for the locals because of the
improved infrastructure and services offered by the county government.

Infrastructural Development
To create employment opportunities and develop the country, Kenya has undertaken some ambitious
development ventures over the past couple of years. As a result, the economy has grown to some degree and
many people have been absorbed into the labor market. The following are projects the government in Kenya
is currently undertaking:
i) The SGR
The Standard Gauge Railway is considered the largest transport development project that Kenya
has undertaken since independence. It is not only the largest but also the most expensive, costing
the Kenyan taxpayer US$3.6 billion. It was constructed to enhance transport operations to boost
economic growth in line with vision 2030.
The SGR was constructed in stages and currently stage one is complete and the construction of
stage two is underway. It is expected to grow the country’s GDP by 1.5%.
Employment Creation Through The SGR
This is probably the biggest benefit of the SGR project. An estimated 25000 Kenyan were
hired directly to work on the project. Also, indirect employment was created through
entrepreneurship by people who have built restaurants, shops, hotels, and gift shops in and
 around the 9 passenger stations between Mombasa and Nairobi. Through these locals have
been able to secure jobs. The operation, running, and maintenance of the railway line and
passenger transportation have created additional employment for Kenyans. When phase 2 of
construction will be completed, even more Kenyans will be able to get jobs.
ii) Nairobi Expressway Expansion (JKIA-Westlands Expressway)
This is a 27.1km road that begins at Mlolongo and finally ending at Westlands along Waiyaki
Way. The main role of this project is to reduce congestion, provide faster and less costly
transport. But it has also created employment for over 2000 Kenyans and will increase
investment in the economy because goods and services will move faster. The investment will
lead to more job opportunities to fill all the new one’s being created.
The expressway will also attract more tourists due to the proper infrastructure in the country.
More employment will be created from this because more infrastructure will be required to be
built to accommodate the large increase in tourist. This will create employment not only in the
tourism industry but also in the transport, hospitality, health, and logistics sectors.

iii) Nairobi-Mombasa Highway Expansion Project

The road is set to be fully operational in 2024 reducing the traveling time between Mombasa and
Nairobi to just four hours. Goods and services will be transported faster, reaching businesses and
citizens faster. This will directly impact the economic growth of the country.
At least 500 new construction jobs are expected to be produced by this project that plans to create
a dual-carriageway to connect Mombasa and Nairobi. Because of the magnitude of the project, a
lot more jobs are to be created either directly or indirectly. People from both the skilled and
unskilled sectors will benefit from the construction of this road. The capability of Kenya to
transport goods and services faster from Mombasa to Nairobi will bring in more investors who
will take advantage of this. Out of this more jobs will be created from the established businesses
from both local and foreign investors.

iv) Lamu Port Project

Since the construction of the new modern port of Lamu began, it has seen the creation of a lot of
job opportunities. This project has directly benefited those who have managed to get a job as
either skilled or unskilled labor and the residents of the area around the port who have created
businesses and employment to provide for those who are working at the port. Once the mega
project has been completed, it will lead to the creation of substantial jobs that will not only relate
to the running and operation of the port but also, indirect job creation in the agricultural,
logistics, trade, and transport industry.
Question 2
Suggest Alternative measures that the BBI report and Your Home County Government need to adopt
so as to bridge the existing regional, individual, inter-communal inequalities and ensure there is
massive Job Creation in Kenya.

1. The Government Should incorporate legislation and strengthen its already existing ones to reduce the
Monopolistic grip that some companies in Kenya have.

Monopolies are companies that are characterized as being a single seller of a unique product in a
market where they have little to no competition and their products having no close substitutes.
Companies such as Safaricom, Kenya power, Bidco Company, Unilever Kenya, and many others,
hold a strong grip on the Kenyan economies. These companies having large finances and
domineering presence in the country heavily solidified by their heavy investment in advertising,
make it very difficult for a local investor to penetrate the market and succeed.
This limits the number of employment opportunities that equally talented Kenyans can create with
their ideas. Since these companies have that amount of power, they can control pricing and exploit
consumers of their products with little to no consequences. Such exploitation could lead to inequality
which will consequently increase the gap between the poor and the rich because the very low-income
earners will be spending more money on these produces - with come from a single source and which
are considered essentials – leaving very little money left to purchase other essential good.
The government can reduce this by adopting the following measures:
i) Merger policy – This is a policy whereby the government investigates company acquisition
through mergers. If there is a 25% market share creation that will arise from such a merger,
the companies can never be allowed to merge. This will prevent companies like Safaricom
and Airtel to merge because they will completely dominate the market.
ii) Control over Pricing – The main goal of most monopolistic companies, is to maximize profit.
So, they will always try to set the highest possible prices that they can squeeze out of their
consumers. The government can fix prices and profits to ensure that these companies do not
make an undue profit.
iii) Organize Consumer Protection Organization – The government should help in the formation
of consumer Protection organizations, because more often than not the consumer is ill-
informed and unaware that they are being exploited. Such organizations will educate the
 consumers and make them aware. In response, companies will reduce prices in fear of losing
their consumers.
iv) Creating Fair Competition – Monopolies can only exist where little to no competition is
present. The government should hence provide resources to promote and grow new
companies trying to penetrate and gain some market share.
v) Breaking up the Monopoly – In the last effort to eliminate a very powerful company that has
completely dominated a market. The government can decide to break it up because of the
excessive power that such companies acquire from controlling the markets.

2. Policy Intervention
The aim of most government policies is often geared towards economic growth and little to no
emphasis is put on addressing the issues that have arisen as a result of inequality in the country. This
negligence by the government can lead to social problems and tensions because economic growth
alone cannot reduce inequality or poverty.
Both levels of government (National and County) have a responsibility of ensuring that measures are
put in place to secure equality and that its people have equal opportunities to enjoy their rights. Both
levels of government should look into the following policies so that inequality and poverty in the
country can significantly decline:
i) Macroeconomic policy
The government should employ macroeconomic policies to ensure that adequate and
productive employment is created and can absorb all new employment-seeking citizens.
Through this, the looming unemployment crisis can be address hence reducing poverty in the
country.
In efforts to alleviate poverty and inequality, the government should also ensure policy
cohesion by actively reviewing existing policies to make sure that there is no discrimination
against the disadvantaged.

ii) Tax Policies

Both levels of government should consider implementing tax policies that look at improving
collection from sectors of the economy that has a disproportionate advantage in terms of
cumulative income growth over others. Tax laws and their implementation should also be
improved so that both levels of government can maximize revenues generated from taxation.
In doing all this, the government should be keen not to allow the taxation policies to
negatively impact economic activities as this will affect economic growth.

iii) Addressing Exclusion

 The national and county governments should put in the effort to discourage and eliminate
both exclusion and discrimination of all kinds from society. This is because discrimination is
a major contributor to inequality and poverty.
The levels of governments should come up with legislative reforms that address practices that
promote discrimination and exclusion to ensure that every citizen of the country is included
in both socio-economic and political development.

iv) Income and Social Policies

Income and social policies should be formulated by both levels of government which include
the protection and registration of unskilled labor which makes up the largest employer in
Kenya. They should ensure that employers comply with legislation on minimum wage and
support from small-scale agriculture which is also a major employer. This will ensure that
low-level income earners are properly rewarded for their services.

v) Enhancing access to life essentials

Both levels of government should work to set up goals that aim at ensuring that its citizens
have access to life essentials such as food, housing, clothes, water, and electricity. By
working with partners from both the private and public sectors they can work toward
providing good quality basic services for the citizens.

vi) Public Education

For citizens to overcome barriers in participating in both social and political engagements.
There need to be efforts made by the national and county governments to increase the
accessibility of information. In doing so citizens will be in a better position to understand and
evaluate the importance and relevance of these plans to their lives. This will result in more
engagements from the people in the implementation of government policies. These
documents include: budgets and policy documents, and the national development plans

vii) Fiscal Policies

The government should adopt policies such as pension, money transfer employment schemes,
and minimum wages which are all economic growth inclined but also target inequality. The
growth that is beneficial to all should be readily adopted.
Funds by the government such as the Youth Fund should be closes evaluated and monitored
with constant review to ensure that it is having a positive impact on the people and not
leaking away through corruption. They should also ensure that their budget formulation
process is geared towards equal gender inclusivity.
 viii) Monitoring and Evaluation
The national government should set up organizations to monitor, evaluate, and assess the use
of revenue, implementation of both national and county projects, and management of the
broad set of socio-economic policies.

ix) Enhancing social accountability and tackling corruption.

The national and county government should create a conducive environment by enhancing
accountability and transparency so that citizens can hold them accountable in the utilization
of resources and service delivery. The following documents can be availed to the public to
ensure accountability:
a) County and National budgets.
b) County Fiscal Strategy Paper.
c) Budget Outlook Paper.
d) Counter Integrated Development Plan.

x) Strengthening Governance
The government at both the national and county level should work toward compliance and
adherence to the constitution and the rule of law. Efforts should be geared towards building
developed sectors and their administrators. The government should focus on developing the
political perspective of its citizens so that they may be able to reasonably engage in
governance. They should also provide provisions for public participation in the constitution
to emphasize the active public participation of its citizens.

xi) Targeted Investment

The levels of government should strive to invest more resources in marginalized areas of their
jurisdictions. This will ensure that lives are improved and that people in those marginalized
areas have access to equal opportunities.

3. End Residential Segregation

Economic mobility can be significantly boosted with the elimination of residential segregation by
income and race. Significantly reduced levels of upward mobility are a direct effect of segregation by
income, especially from the isolation of low-income earners. This is a major sight in Kenya where
the rich lifestyle of the wealthy is directly juxtaposed with the poor who are their immediate
neighbors.
 The government can reduce this to allow more people to upscale in life by building and funding
government housing projects not only aimed at accommodating the civil and public servants but also,
provide affordable and subsidized housing to the poor.

References Question 1
1. http://www.kenpro.org/youth-enterprise-development-fund/
2. http://www.youthfund.go.ke/our-products/
3. http://www.youthfund.go.ke/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/BOARD-END-OF-TERM-REPORT-
ONLINE-VERSION.pdf
4. https://www.helb.co.ke/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Approved-TVET-Institutions-LIST.pdf
5. https://www.tveta.go.ke/2019/03/28/key-milestones-the-tvet-sector-has-achieved/
6. https://www.cog.go.ke/component/k2/item/228-county-goverments-to-get-sh370b-for-the-financial-
year-2021-2022
7. https://www.africa-press.net/kenya/policy/mcas-to-control-in-excess-of-sh20-million-each
8. https://e4abc214-6079-4128-bc62-
d6e0d196f772.filesusr.com/ugd/00daf8_bedbb584077f4a9586a25c60e4ebd68a.pdf
9. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mombasa%E2%80%93Nairobi_Standard_Gauge_Railway#:~:text=At
%20a%20cost%20of%20US,expensive%20infrastructure%20project%20since%20independence.
10. https://www.constructionkenya.com/3383/benefits-sgr-kenya/
11. https://kenyanwallstreet.com/the-ksh-62-2-billion-nairobi-expressway-finally-takes-shape/
12. https://www.roadtraffic-technology.com/projects/nairobi-mombasa-highway-expansion-project/
13. https://www.kenyanews.go.ke/construction-of-nairobi-expressway-on-top-gear/
14. https://www.kpa.co.ke/OurBusiness/pages/lamu.aspx

References Question 2
1. https://www.economicsdiscussion.net/monopoly/control-monopoly/how-to-control-monopolies-6-
measures-markets-economics/29518
2. https://thelawreviews.co.uk/title/the-dominance-and-monopolies-review/kenya
3. https://www.ke.undp.org/content/kenya/en/home/sustainable-development-goals/goal-10-reduced-
inequalities.html
4. https://www.ieakenya.or.ke/downloads.php?page=Futures-Bulletin-17th-Edition.pdf