Will the State walk the extra mile?

The State deserves commendation for taking technical training to a new level with the sending of 50 tutors to a China.

The tutors are expected to train other trainers and Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) students on how to manufacture quality industrial products and spare parts.

The hope is that this will raise the quality of Kenya’s manufactured products to international standards. The fly in the ointment, however, is that only a small percentage of local industries can absorb highly-skilled graduates.

This is because the majority of the local manufacturing plants are obsolete, with a good number of them being partially manual.

Worse even, few industrialists seem ready to invest in new technology as they get adequate return on investments made decades ago.

The influx of relatively cheap imports from India and China has, so far, failed to jolt them out of their comfort zones.

The State needs to walk the extra mile and establish industries that would employ these highly-trained graduates. Failure to do so could spell doom for the new graduates on employment.

That would be a great loss not only for the students but also for the country that is spending a tidy sum in training them.

In the event Kenya decides to walk the extra mile, the place to start would be to ask the Chinese to help it establish industries to produce export goods that Beijing is phasing out due to high costs.

Surveillance project

These include textiles, apparels and household goods that China produces under licence. The production of TVs, radios, mobile phones, for example, could be done in Kenya for export to African countries and back into Asia.

A report on April 30, 2019 that Huawei will deliver a data centre, smart city and surveillance project in Konza City at a cost of Sh17.5 billion is a pointer to how far Kenya can go, provided its leadership focuses on what is needed.

The Chinese firm’s global foot-print means that its Kenyan products can easily be sold globally and help market other local high-tech products.

Kenyan leadership could take advantage of the Chinese decision to make the country its hub for its East and Central African business and economic interests.

This is despite competition from Ethiopia and Tanzania. The training of TVET tutors in China should open Chinese eyes on how hard-working and industrious Kenyans are when given the right tools and motivation.