Unemployment: The Fallacy of the Chinese

This month, 14 Chinese nationals who were taking part in the construction of the Standard Gauge Railway were attacked and injured by angry youth at Duka Moja railway construction along the Narok-Maai Mahiu Road.

The angry youth were in numbers of hundreds and they were armed with clubs and swords. They were chanting and singing while demanding for a share of the standard gauge railway jobs in the area.  This came days after more that 300 other youth protest concerning about the same but they were dispersed by the police.

The locals accused the Chinese of bringing in all the machinery including cheap labor leaving the locals with nothing to do. The government of Kenya condemned the incident and even threatened to take action against those who had committed the incidence.

To some extent, the locals were justified to take the action they took because had they not taken such drastic measures, the government would have just brushed over the Chinese issue as Kenyans continue to wallow in the ditch of unemployment.

Great percentage of the Standard Gauge Railway is being financed by the Chinese Government. The problem with the Chinese is that they give us the loan to build the railway on conditions that we use the same loan to buy materials from them and allowing them to come with all the labor.

Read: Kenya’s Economy: State of Unemployment

Kenyans have not benefited a lot from the ongoing construction of the railway because the Chinese has everything including manual labor from China. This has made some communities around the areas where the construction is taking place to become hostile. People expected that they will get jobs during the construction so as to earn a living.

Majority of the Kenyan population is made up of unemployed youth whose hopes are often toyed with every electioneering period. As the next General Elections nears, politicians are shaping up their tongues to promise the youth heaven in terms of jobs. The reality is, it is only hell that is usually being delivered at the end of everything.

What rules and regulations are being put in place by the government to protect Kenyans against foreigners who come to Kenya to take up laborious jobs ?

Does the government know that some of the Kenyans will only benefit from the railway by getting employment during its construction? (This may be seen as a lame reason but, if am poor and the railway passes at my place to go and serve the rich, what do I benefit from it, apart from continuing being poor?)