Some of the causes of braindrain in kenya today.

  

Date Posted: 10/11/2011 3:03:58 AM

Posted By: rawlit3  Membership Level: Silver  Total Points: 811

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Kenya and Africa as a whole is always complaining about its inability to hold onto its intellectuals as they are more easily attracted to foreign countries. Kenya has seen some of her best writers; political activists, doctors and other professionals leave for greener pastures abroad.

I will try to outline some of the factors that cause this exodus, but the greatest cause of this problem is how we raise our children. How many times do the parents tell their children that they would love to see them in airplanes, where to? And parents should stop complementing their children by telling them that they have done it like a mzungu. Here are some causes towards the brain drain menace in Kenya, but feel free to tell us the reason you would consider leaving this beautiful country to work abroad.

1. Political instability; the past political instability in the country has led to the exile of most of our intellectuals. Writers such as Ngugi, political activists such as Koigi have had to escape the country due to bad political climate.

2. High rate of unemployment in the country; with many youths coming out of our colleges and only a handful being absorbed into the job market, most of these opt to ply their trade elsewhere.

3. Insecurity; post election violence, organized gangs and general insecurity leads to more people investing in other countries, working there and even completely migrating to these countries.

4. Poor economy; despite its economic growth over the years, Kenya still experiences high costs of living, low living standards, high interest rates and taxes along with lower salaries makes it difficult for one to establish himself locally.

5. Corruption and bureaucracy; these deeply rooted problems discourages genuine effort towards achievement in life whereby undeserving individuals are rewarded as those that accomplish required

standards look on, this is true in job allotments and tenders. People thus decide to look for an even playing field abroad.

6. Poor working conditions; people tend to go to other countries with hope that working conditions there are better than in their mother country.

8. Failure by the government to heed to their promises of salary increase to workers. You find than many a times, the government fails to honor their part in terms of salary increment agreements. This forces specialists to go to other countries where terms are better.

9. Poor salaries; many employees in Kenya don't earn salaries commensurate of their skills. This discourages them from continuing to work locally and hence travel to outside countries in search of greener pastures.

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