Instead of addressing the structural unemployment crisis, the UDA government’s ‘solution’ is to distribute boda bodas and label it empowerment. This is not job creation; it is trapping young people in a cycle of poverty and expecting them to applaud it. It is akin to giving someone a spoon to dig a dam. – Hon. Justin Muturi
By Our Correspondent
As the Kenya Kwanza administration marks three years in power, it is becoming increasingly clear that President William Ruto’s grand promises on job creation for young Kenyans have failed to materialise. The much-touted pledge to expand opportunities and widen the tax base through meaningful employment now appears hollow, with the government clutching at the desperate narrative of exporting labour abroad as proof of delivery.
The reality at home tells a different story. Official figures show that only 782,300 new jobs were created in 2024, down from 848,200 in 2023. This decline comes against a backdrop of relentless inflation, widespread unemployment, and dwindling opportunities for millions of young Kenyans. Outside the construction sector, buoyed by affordable housing and resumed road projects, employment growth has stagnated, and the government’s own initiatives remain crippled by underfunding and poor execution.
The Controller of Budget’s latest report paints a damning picture: vocational and youth employment programmes are either severely under-resourced or barely off the ground. For instance, a KSh1.5 billion vocational training scheme is only two per cent complete, while key scholarship and youth innovation projects remain untouched. Such failures undermine the very backbone of Ruto’s campaign rhetoric.
At the same time, the Kenya Revenue Authority’s aggressive tax collection measures are suffocating businesses. SMEs, the lifeblood of job creation, are being punished for minor infractions, while pending government bills, amounting to KSh524.8 billion, have left many firms cash-strapped, unable to access loans, and in some cases forced to lay off staff. Unsurprisingly, commercial banks now flag these enterprises as high-risk, tightening the noose further around a struggling sector.
Compounding the crisis is Kenya’s ballooning public debt, which now stands at KSh11.7 trillion. With the bulk of revenues swallowed by debt servicing and recurrent expenditure, little remains for investments that could genuinely spur job creation. Instead, Kenyans are left with stalled projects announced on political podiums without proper funding, eroding public trust even further.
Faced with this bleak domestic record, the administration has resorted to claiming “job creation” overseas through bilateral labour export deals. While such opportunities may benefit a fraction of the workforce, they are no substitute for sustainable, home-grown employment. Outsourcing job creation to foreign countries underscores the government’s failure to deliver on its most pressing pledge, building an economy where Kenyan youth can thrive at home, not just abroad.
President Ruto campaigned on the promise of economic empowerment through jobs. Three years on, the evidence suggests not just underperformance, but a complete disconnect between rhetoric and reality. Unless urgent reforms are undertaken to fund youth programmes, support SMEs, and ease the burden of debt and taxation, the promise of a “bottom-up” economy will remain nothing more than political theatre.
