Mbuki Mburu: NEA board sleeping on the job

Kenya boasts of the highest gross domestic product (GDP) and economy in East Africa, yet it has the worst unemployment rate in the region. This is despite the Constitution providing for mechanisms for youth inclusion and meaningful participation in social, political, economic and other spheres.

Article 55 (c) and 56 (c) expressly require the government to put in place measures to offer young people special opportunities for access to employment. In light of this, several efforts have been put in place — including numerous policies, such as the Kenya Youth Development Policy, the latest among them, and an Act of Parliament establishing the state agency National Employment Authority (NEA).

The National Employment Authority Act 2016 established the NEA in April 2016. It was anchored on affirmative action for youth. Young people participated in the envisioning of the bill specifically meant to resolve the ticking time bomb that is youth unemployment in the country.

However, young people are yet to see the significance of NEA. In fact, little is known about the institution that has been facilitating young people to travel to the Middle East as house helps and other miserable menial jobs, which has resulted in gross contraventions of Article 3, 4 and 5 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, of protection against torture, cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment as witnessed by most Kenyans working there. Only the survivors have told their stories; we will never hear the tales of those who ‘returned’ home in coffins.

But this is not why NEA was formed, I am ashamed to say.

Despite the great disservice to young people, four years later, the board is pushing, for a second time, to repeal sections of the NEA Act that mention youth. It has previously pushed these amendments through miscellaneous amendment bills in the Senate that were rejected. It seems the old guard are not happy with the structure of the Act and are working tirelessly to sneak in the motion through another miscellaneous amendment bill.

So, on what will these bills be anchored if the Act itself was to implement Article 55 and 56 of the Constitution, I dare ask?

Indeed, it is unfortunate that a State agency that is meant to serve young people is not treated with the seriousness it deserves. Exactly one year ago, two youth organisations petitioned the Employment and Labour Relations Court, in Petition 193 of 2019, questioning the validity of the appointment of NEA’s chairperson.

Appointment unconstitutional

Faulting the procedure in recruiting the official as per Section 10 (2) of NEA Act, they argued that the process did not adhere to Articles 10, 73 (2) and 232 of the Constitution, Section 36 (1) of the Public Service Act, Section 10 of the Public Service (Values and Principles) Act, Section 22 of the Public Officer Ethics Act. They further contested the handpicking of the candidate without her having met the threshold and outside the constitutional and statutory requirements.

In his ruling on January 17 this year, Justice Onesmus Makau found the appointment unconstitutional. The court ruled that the candidate was unqualified, unsuitable and unfit to hold the position as per the statutory qualifications and experience required for it.

Young people must rise to the occasion, ask the pertinent questions and push for a working NEA. Since the appointment was quashed, the NEA board does not have a chairperson, 10 months later. And why does it still have an acting director-general four years down the line?

In fact, the authority has never recruited a director-general. How does it operate? Does it have staff, and what are they doing to serve the youth of this country?

According to NEA’s 2019 workplan and annual budget, it was supposed to recruit the DG and staff with a budget of Sh40 million yet it still has staff seconded from the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection and an acting DG. This means the resources allocated for recruitment were returned to the Exchequer.

Don’t we have qualified young people to take up these roles, one may ask? It is evident that the institution is unsuitable to perform its mandate?

It is now obvious that saboteurs in NEAare trying to water down the gains by a country in youth empowerment, including through a progressive Constitution that seeks to achieve inclusivity and collective development. The patriots ought to save this country from excluding about 75 per cent of the population, which could easily threaten the peace.

With the uncertainties created by the Covid-19 pandemic, which has resulted in the loss of more than 1.8 million jobs, mostly among youth, NEA must step up to the plate and carry out its mandate. Else, the President should reconstitute the NEA board and appoint members who will deliver the promises of theConstitution.

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Mutuma Mathiu’s column will resume next week.