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Kenyan graduates struggle to get appropriate jobs |
The Kenyan government will not renew work permits for 16,000 expatriates when their current contracts expire, according to the country's Labour Minister, Ali Mwakwere.
"We have enough Kenyans who can take up the jobs," Mr Mwakwere told Kenya's East African Standard newspaper.
The minister, however, said that the government will issue work permits to expatriates for jobs in areas where the country did not have qualified personnel.
"We have enough middle level manpower and therefore there is no need for expatriates," said Mr Mwakwere.
Call to return
The BBC's Alice Muthengi in Nairobi says that there are thousands of junior expatriate managers holding jobs that Kenyans are qualified to hold, especially in the manufacturing and agricultural sectors.
Mr Mwakwere's remarks were made on the same day that President Mwai Kibaki was asking Asian business people who left Kenya in the run-up to the December 2002 general election to return and help revive the economy.
He said that business people would be protected if they returned to the country.
Jobs
President Kibaki's National Rainbow Coalition (Narc) government, in office since January 2003, promised to create at least half a million new jobs a year.
But many Kenyans now feel the government has been slow in delivering on this promise.
Some members of parliament have argued against the employment of expatriates, saying that the country has enough qualified personnel to run its affairs.
They point out that the number of graduates has been growing, while job opportunities in the government and private sector have declined.
About two million eligible Kenyans are unemployed - the majority of those survive through subsistence farming or occasional odd jobs.
