Whenever you have yourself seated in that class full of students, you will hear some pals, teachers and academic advisors tell you “Education is the key,” “education can unlock for you hidden doors,” and so forth, the soothing words which have not turned out to be the case for Patrick Muthomi who is just an example of many suffering youths.
The Bachelor of Commerce graduate in accounting section and Certified Public Accountant upto section four certificate holder has been rooming around within Kenya, as he says, looking for jobs which seems hidden ‘in the most secret closest where normal citizen cannot reach them’, hard to find.
His photos attracted huge attention in social media as he walked along various roads and streets in Nairobi carrying “Please give me job” placard and super-briefly highlighting his superior achievements in accounting with his contacts clearly printed bold-white.
The Nyeri-born married father of two year-old-daughter says that he backed on his wife to support their family, if she secured job , because he “was not sure who would get employed first.” But their hopes were drowned in ‘Unemployment River’ since none of them managed to secure a job after he relocated to the city, Nairobi, in search of greener pasture after opting out of teaching career.
The job search has taken him more than a year, like other several years’ unemployed graduates also hunting for jobs, longer than he expected but he has faith that Nairobi his the future employer ground though he knows not who the employer is.
As he hopes to beat the ‘seral’ stage, the Mwiki dweller took to the roads with placard, an improved way of advertising himself to potential employer, calling upon them to offer him a job opportunity.
“Reality dawned on me Wednesday morning that I need more money. After much thinking, I decided to make a Sh1200 placard that would highlight my plight, at the same time sell my qualifications to any potential employer who would be moved by my effort. I have explained my sorrowful stories to many company executives, but none has considered employing me,” says Patrick.
The growing rate of unemployed
Several universities are pumping out the campus graduates, all holding degrees related to the few available fields in the job market, to go and secure themselves job and earn a living.
But this has not been the case, for example, in education sector thousands of Bachelor in Education graduates are yet waiting and hoping one day to secure a Teacher’s Service Commission number. The graduates in other fields who don’t get immediate job rush to the nearby schools, mostly day schools, and land a partial job as they wait to venture in their real career making even education field more competitive.
With no option out of this, various graduates are making use of the skills they have to create their own jobs. However, initial capital is making it hard for them to achieve their dreams and end up tarmacking for years.
For the few available jobs, employers are however demanding too much; Masters and Phd holders, several years of experience in the advertised jobs among other qualifications that put ‘fresh graduates’ aside even before they have applied.
But what would be the solution to unemployment?
Muthomi is not alone in the jobless economy. Several academicians are hovering around with their neck high and ears alert hoping to soon hear from someone, a call for interviews in a certain office for whichever job even if not in line with their career.
The job market now is almost fully flooded, and the flooding is yet to hit higher levels, many graduates are joining the ‘job seekers class’ in the Kenyan economy and this will even propel the unemployment rate higher to the sky if something is not done to calm the coming storm.
The only remaining option at the moment is entrepreneurship, but the financial implication to that becomes another challenge. With the eyes on the other hand looking at the government of Kenya, youths are hoping that the Jubilee government will deliver its manifesto, “employment to the youth.”