Grace Akinyi on #CBC again...
After my last post on CBC, Kenyans rushed to remind me on the comments that,
"...the west is doing better because their students specialise early, get skills early and become productive"
.....sounds convincing...but also largely nonsense...!
Because some of us have had the privilege of schooling both in Kenya and abroad, it might be important to interrupt that fantasy with some uncomfortable truths.
I did my Masters at the best University in Scotland. Elite by standard.
In my entire class, I did not see a single Scottish national.
Ask your friends studying across the UK and they'll report the same pattern.
Classrooms in western countries are overwhelmingly international. Locals? Not so many.
And no... this is not because British students are fully skilled by their teenage years.
It is because British youth do not need more education to survive.
In the UK, you can decide to take an apprenticeship, opt out of undergraduate degree, switch careers, or simply work with little experience and no education.
Failure is survivable because the system cushions it.
In this context, early specialisation works because it sits on top of functioning institutions, real labour markets, and a system that forgives mistakes.
.... the early skills arguments gets worse here....
Even in sectors that literally keep people alive like healthcare, the UK does not rely on skills produced solely by its own education system.
According to a recent General Medical Council Workforce report, around 42% of doctors working in the UK were trained outside the country.
Yaani, almost half the experts keeping people alive in the UK were taught in curricular that resemble something like 8-4-4
What does that mean?
It means that even with early specialisation, even with elite universities, the UK cannot meet its own critical skill needs domestically.
If early specialisation was the secret ingredient, the UK would not need a Pakistani, Indian or Nigerian doctors to keep its health systems functioning. It would simply produce locally.
Now let's get back home.
Kenya.
I was told that we ain't doing well because we lack skills.
And honestly that would be a very funny joke if it wasn't insulting.
I read it felt hot in my stomach. That Kenyans lack skills because of 8-4-4 curriculum ?
The joke...or the nonsense... or the nonsense on the joke?
Why are we afraid of saying the truth....
That we are not doing well because our skills are trapped in a broken political economy....
Why do you keep on insisting that we are suffering because 8-4-4 did not produce enough skills?
And yet and yet and yet.....
Our engineers are riding bodas. Our trained teachers are sitting at home. Our footballers are sleeping hungry?
Why are you insulting us...?
We see what you people are trying to do with this your CBC.
You want to shift responsibility from the state to the child.
If they fail, they will be told that they chose a wrong pathway.
If they are poor, they will be told that they don't have the right competencies.
And just like that, the leadership will walk away untouched.
Yet, our employment crisis as a country is a governance feature.
Shida iko huko juu kwa Githinji. Sio kwa watoto wetu.
We can redesign the curriculum every five years, but until we redesign politics, jobs will remain an elective.
Down a mini rabbit hole.
There's a 3.5 Billion proposed contract for carbon credits/trading between the Kenyan Government (Environment and Forestry) and a company called Suni Smart Energy for accelerated financing and planting of 15 Billion trees to reduce emissions.
🧵 Thread
At the beginning of the year, I made a call for us to protect the sanctity and dignity of every Kenyan life. It has come to us that two persons known to have been abducted at Mlolongo have been found dead. We condole with the families of Martin Mwau and Justus Musyimi and stand with the families of those still missing. May God greatly comfort you and give you courage to push towards justice. I reiterate my deep condemnation of the continued violence against young Kenyans in the form of the abhorrent acts of killing, maiming, and abduction. These continued crimes are a stain to our collective conscience as a nation, and we are all duty bound to say #EnoughisEnough, #EndAbductionsNow! We cannot remain silent. These crimes are a profound betrayal of the future of our nation and the sanctity of the Constitution. A leadership that abets a culture of killings and human rights violations jeopardizes its legitimacy. We cannot be lulled into complacency in the face of such assaults to our shared humanity. Every Kenyan and particularly our youth, deserves to live in safety and security and to pursue their dreams. I stand in unity with all Kenyans of good conscience and call for the immediate release of all young people who are still being held incommunicado. I call for accountability and justice for the victims and their loved ones. Let us work together to build a society that upholds the rule of law, constitutionalism and integrity. May the Almighty comfort the bereaved and their families. God Bless Kenya
Even bits you will NEVER understand SHIF because it’s a looting agency.
Even the custodians of the so said SHA can’t explain this animal.
They are simply korsakoffing with heavy blubbers
The SHIF SHAM will soon BE floating all over the surface.
Someone please hold me!!
The High Court judgement on Income Tax Appeal No.E043/2020 pitching KRA against 5 clubs.
For me the kicker is not the High Court upholding the Tax Appeals Tribunal's decision on VAT not being applicable to joining fee & subscription.
The icing for me is in paragraphs 47 & 52.
47 - While this Court as the Tax court will facilitate legitimate collection of tax for the economy, it has at the same time the responsibility to guard against overzealousness, greed, unfairness, and unconscionableness in tax collection. While taxes are an inevitable and legitimate source of government revenue, we cannot tax anything & everything
52 - A tax authority should in carrying out its functions not take an unpopular & insensitive trajectory that makes tax & tax collection a bitter pill to swallow or wholly disregards or rubbishes the views of stakeholders & even the concerned public
Wueeeeh!!
"I've chosen to occupy Kenyatta Avenue by sitting down because if I run, I'll be teargassed, and if I walk, I'll still get teargassed," Emmanuel tells @johnallannamu during the protests against the government in Nairobi.
This is absurd, why did the executive add Fuel mentainance levy yesterday up from sh 18 to 25 sh even before the regulations has been approved by parliament?
Do they understand that Kenya is governed by Rule of Law ?
The imposition of levy ammendment bill must be passed in parliament prior the increment . Conducting public participation is not conclusive to making the law. Stop law canvassing.
#Respect rule of Law
#Stop impunity .
Someone give this guy a crate of White Cap on my bill. Gen Z have made Ruto he cannot dare leave the country or be away from statehouse for prolonged period of time.
• enda tutaua wengine wengi • FULL CLIP
For context, a couple of minutes before, I’d seen a cop hurl teargas into the Holy Family Basilica parking lot where the medics had set up their tent. Did not make sense to me because I could see protestors at the exit gate of the church, so ideally that tear gas should have been lobbed at them. But this was almost directly towards the tent. I tried making my way round to go see what was happening there, and I saw her coming out of the gate, coughing, headed straight at the cops. Intuition screamed to follow her…and my heart broke with every second of this dialogue.
⚕️♥️🇰🇪💔
Gen Z, this is what it would look like if we take control of the political landscape. Picture this moral clarity existing alongside corrupt Osoro and the other Tumbocrats Mpigs in our parliament. This is the leadership we need, thank you Crystal Asige.
I think Uhuru used to sit on the floor since it was so urgent for Ruto to buy statehouse furniture worth billions. #TheButcherOfSugoi should go back to Eldoret. Rongai is reason enough for the president to step down.
Haiti Gachagua The KDF IPOA Osoro