The 2016 Economic
Survey report reveals priority areas for planning. This report provides the
state of the economy across multiple sectors between 2011- 2015.
Kenya’s economic growth structure remains problematic.
Agriculture accounts for 30 percent of Kenya’s GDP. Manufacturing contributes a
paltry 10 percent. Retail, transportation, financial services, construction,
education, information, telecommunication and other service sectors account for
60 percent of GDP.
The report reveals that enrollment in
secondary education increased by about 44 percent, from about 1.77 million in
2011 to 2.56 million in 2015. In the same period enrollment in primary school
grew by 4.2 percent from 9.6 million to 10 million. The proportion of pupils
who transition from primary to secondary has increased only marginally from 60
percent to 63 percent between 2012 and 2015. However, the rate of completion of
secondary school is only 48 percent.
Development spending in education has
remained flat over the last five years at about Ksh. 21 billion. But here is what is truly depressing. Both
development and recurrent expenditure for youth polytechnics and training declined
by about 280 percent, from about Ksh. 1.45billion to a miserable Ksh. 383
million. Such low levels of investment in technical and vocational training are
disconcerting especially when one considers the massive skills gap in technical
and vocational fields.
The report reveals that pneumonia and cancer
and not malaria and HIV/AIDS are now the top causes of mortality in Kenya.
While the incidence of malaria has declined by about 47 percent between 2011
and 2015, the incidence of respiratory infections increased by 63 percent in
the same period. Inequalities in health
still persist. For example more than 35 percent of registered births in 2015 in
Narok, Wajir, Mandera, Marsabit and Tana River occurred at home.
Data on healthcare personal is worrying, with
critical deficit in qualified individuals in the fields of nutrition, medical
imaging science, medical laboratory science, registered of BSc trained nurses
in metal health and psychiatry, optical and dental technology. There is an
opportunity here to ramp up investment in technical and vocational training to
respond to the enormous manpower needs in the health sector.
On employment, 83 percent of Kenya’s
workforce is employed in the informal sector. Furthermore 60 percent of those
employed in the informal sector work in retail, food and hospitality sector,
where wages are low. The informal sector is characterized by poor working
conditions, and attracts very low wages. While the informal sector is the
largest employer, the rate of growth of new jobs is about 4.2 percent. Formal
sector, which accounts for only 17 percent of jobs, grew at an average of 16
percent between 2011 and 2015.
I don’t know who the audience for Economic
Survey report is. But I think the department of planning and finance must pay
attention to report, especially with respect investing in quality education,
health and priorities for skill development. Job growth in the informal sector
is plateauing. But job growth in the formal remains sluggish. What is the plan?
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