“We need to restore the meaning of that old word duty.  It is the other side of rights” Pearl S. Buck – American Writer (1892-1973) 

Western Province and North Rift has since independence produced thousands of skilled and professional sons and daughters in all disciplines of human endeavour.  The majority of them end up spending all their most productive years outside the region largely in the major cities of Nairobi, Mombasa, Nakuru and Kisumu and others outside the country – the Diaspora. 

Forty nine years since independence there is no Skills Data Bank developed by Western Kenya and North Rift that is reservoir a store of the sons and daughters of the region who have internationally benchmarked skills?  For a start, nobody can put a finger on how many people from the region have undertaken university education in Kenya and outside Kenya and what degrees they graduated with.  Yes, no public body in the region can tell how many professionals in diverse disciplines, callings, vocations and more so those with a first university degree hail from Western Province and North Rift. 

West fm states that the socio-economic transformation of Western Province and North Rift can only materialize in this decade if the region is able to harness its trained, skilled, educated, experienced manpower and womanpower to confront the challenges that bedevil the region and deliver solutions.  People with the right skill sets and character (integrity) will be the engines to define the issues that must be addressed to put the region on track to Vision 2030 that so far remains a mirage and illusion for the region.

Time has come for each County, each Constituency and cumulatively Western Province and North Rift  to develop a complete Working Register of all the regions professionals, experts, persons skilled with university level education who hail from the region and whether working in the region, other parts of Kenya or the Diaspora.  That Skills Data Bank will then enable the region to consistently evaluate itself on how it is faring in the critical area of Human Capital Development.  It will enable the region to determine, undertake and utilize that Data to evaluate itself among others on the following frontiers: 

1.     What skilled, professional men and women does the region boast of having birthed and what contributions are they making in return? 

2.     What shortage exists in the skills and professional profiles of the region, the communities and how can the shortages be filled? 

3.     Can those skilled and professional men and women be called upon to be mentors, role models to the young generation especially in primary and secondary schools? 

4.     How does the region compare with other parts of Kenya in the skills and professional development quotient in terms of quality and numbers? 

5.     How can the region utilize the skills to help transform it, to address the challenges that face its people? 

6.     What barriers exist to entry into those skills, professions where the region is under represented? 

7.     What are the gender comparisons in the skills and professions profile and how can they be righted and be balanced. 

8.     How can the region be able to avail its competent sons and daughters to compete and stand the best chances to be picked to occupy key public offices in line with the Constitutional provisions that state that public offices be filled so as to achieve regional balance and reflect the face of Kenya? 

9.     How can these men and women of skills, these professionals, these well rounded achievers be tapped to take up leadership positions in the region to steer it out of its current unacceptable state of underdevelopment. 

10.  How can these critical human capital be incentivized to invest in the region and create employment for the thousands of youths languishing in unemployment. 

11.  How can these critical human capital be agents of change, an inspiration to the regions hopes for a better future, longing to rise 

West fm states that as things stand today our political leaders and any other Westerner or North Rifter can only boast of how many skilled professional people from the region they know as far as their circle of friends or relatives go.  That is a dangerous, reckless and irresponsible state of affairs.  In this digital age why won’t the region at the click of a mouse or at the fingers scrolling a cellphone be able to reach a data bank of skills and from their choices be available as to who are the sons and daughters of the region with each skill, what experience, what references etc. 

Can any elected leaders and those aspiring  for public service, the religious leaders and any other stakeholder in the  region verify accurately in a few minutes and tell West Fm for example – how many professors, doctor of philosophy holders, medical doctors, dentists, pharmacists, engineers, architects, lawyers, certified accountants, geologists, surveyors, registered nurses, teachers, actuaries, educationists, pilots, hydrologists, agronomists, economists, bankers, IT-specialists, political scientists, environmentalists, veterinary doctors etc each Constituency, County and the region has produced since independence and how many are still living and working?  West fm states with no fear of being contradicted that nobody can even if they are given several months to furnish those statistics. 

Let us make no mistake that it is only those Counties that will be able to efficiently, competently and rigorously harness their human capital and more so that human capital that is skilled, that has received universally rated education, training, skills that will take off and at exponential speeds.  Those Counties that fail to exploit their human capital reservoirs will stagnate and will keep asking what happened? And at worst in denial they will start spewing excuses for their failure on that “tribe” is favoured or such other hogwash. 

Western Province and North Rift must take stock of its human capital, its skills reservoirs and develop a Data Bank from which the region can tap to transform itself. 

WEST FM EDITORIAL©2012