Kenya risks struggling to create jobs, build industries and compete globally unless it changes how it invests in education, skills and local expertise, economist and activist Prof Fred Ogola has warned.
Ogola said the country had placed too much attention on infrastructure and housing projects while failing to address unemployment, skills shortages, weak local production and limited innovation. He said economic development should first focus on building human capital and improving productivity before major investments in physical infrastructure.
Speaking during a Radio Generation interview on Tuesday, the Liberal Democratic Party presidential candidate criticised successive government economic programmes, including the Bottom-Up Economic Transformation Agenda, saying they had not adequately dealt with the basic issues needed to support long-term economic growth.
He said education should have been given priority under Vision 2030 because a strong skills base was necessary for Kenya to industrialise and increase productivity.
Ogola questioned the decision to introduce the Competency-Based Curriculum while existing problems in the education sector had not been fully addressed, arguing that resources were instead being directed towards infrastructure and housing.
He said Kenya needed to establish clear economic priorities, with education and skills development serving as the foundation for manufacturing and other productive sectors.
The economist compared Kenya’s approach with China, saying the Asian country invested heavily in vocational training and human capital before emerging as a major manufacturing centre.
According to Ogola, Kenya could follow a similar path by developing industries that manufacture products currently imported from other countries. He said this would require an education system designed to give learners practical skills that can be applied to real economic challenges.
“Our education system is giving people paper without being able to solve a single human problem,” Prof Ogola said.
He said universities should move beyond producing graduates with academic qualifications and instead train people who can develop practical solutions to problems affecting the country.
Ogola cited food security, healthcare and manufacturing among the areas where universities should be producing research and skills capable of solving real challenges.
He also raised concern over Kenya’s failure to make use of highly skilled professionals, saying the country needed to create opportunities for local experts to contribute to national development.
“We have never given our intellectuals to thrive. We have a Kenyan who has designed the subway system in UK. In Kenya here, we are now importing someone to give us a policy. We are importing someone to talk about how to do the Nairobi subway. A foreigner, yet a Kenyan has designed the traffic system in London, one of the most industrialized cities in the world,” he said.
The economist said Kenya must also lower the cost of production and strengthen local industries if its products are to compete effectively with imports.
He pointed to Kenya’s trade with neighbouring countries as an example of the problem, saying goods imported from other countries can at times cost less than products made locally.
Ogola further called for economists and other professionals to have a greater role in shaping economic policies, arguing that local expertise was not being fully used in national decision-making.
“We have economists in Kenya; they are not given a chance to formulate economic policy that can help Kenya become competitive.”
He also questioned the way academic achievement is measured in Kenya, saying qualifications should be tied more closely to the ability to solve practical problems.
Ogola argued that advanced research should be aimed at finding answers to real-life challenges rather than simply meeting academic requirements.
“For us here in Kenya, you just have to do politics. You talk to these guys in the bar. Then tomorrow you are passed. That's why a PhD in Kenya is not structured to solve a problem. In China, the system is structured to solve a problem,” he said.
He said Kenya’s economic strategy should therefore put greater emphasis on creating a skilled workforce, supporting innovation and building industries that can compete in international markets.
Ogola said the success of economic development should ultimately be judged by whether it creates jobs, enables the country to produce more of what it consumes, provides solutions to local problems and improves the lives of ordinary citizens.