Essay - Was the Kenyan Reform Policy Successful? the Need for Reform...

Was the Kenyan reform policy Successful?

The need for reform in Kenya has been clearly demonstrated. But ***** question remains, has this ***** been successful? The slogan of "Harambe" fueled the passions of the *****n people and drove *****m to strive as one nation ***** lift themselves up from poverty and oppression. It has been ten years since the last reform and it is now time to look back ***** see what has been accompl*****hed.

***** measure the success of the reforms we will consider several economic indicators both before the reform and after to see how they have changed. *****n these factors ***** be considered as a whole to develop a better out***** on the entire picture. We will consider education, ***** performance of the industrial sector, the trade and tourism *****, the finance sector, rate of inflation, employment and wages, ***** agricultural sector, construction, social services and some comments on general c*****ditions of the average person in Kenya today.

Education

It is conventional w*****dom to stress the importance of *****, a measure of human capital accumulation, in determining growth. After independence, ***** experienced a major educational expansion but experienced economic slow down in the 1960s followed by stag***** in the 1970s and decline post-1980 (Appleton, 1999). Like the subcontinent as a whole it has experienced educational expansion ***** poor economic *****. At present, Kenya's ***** achievements are above the average for the subcontinent with an illiteracy rate of 22% in 1995 compared to 44% ***** ***** subcontinent as a *****.

Its income is below *****, in 1997 its GNP per capita ***** w***** $1110 ***** to $1470 in the subcont*****ent. (World Bank, 1998). One common critique ***** conventional rate of return ***** education estimates is that they are based on urban wage employees. This may be appropriate for males in industrialized countries, but is questi*****able in develop*****g countries where most ***** the population depends on self-employment. For ***** years for which we have data, ***** find rates of return to education within ***** are comparable ***** those for ***** employment. Education does have strong effects on the probability of employment and self-employment, an effect m*****sed by conventional analysis of returns within employment (or self-employment) alone. However, earnings differences *****tween the two kinds of activity ***** not sufficiently large to make this a m*****jor consideration for men. For women, low rates of labor market participation implies ***** education may have a much stronger ***** on earned ***** than implied ***** conventional ***** (Appleton, 1999).

***** higher literacy rates than ***** rest of the African continent, it would *****m that *****ir GDP ***** capita should be higher as well. But this is ***** the c*****e and it seems as if education is not ***** only factor in ***** ***** growth.

Industrial Sector

Kenya's industrial sector ***** grown substantially over the years with its contribution to Gross Domestic Product (*****) rose from ab***** 8 per cent in 1990 to 14 per cent ***** 1994. There are more ***** 700 medium *****