Eight years after graduating with a science degree, Elijah Ombuki navigates Nairobi's chaotic traffic, his academic hopes buried under the dust of unemployment.

In the bustling chaos of Nairobi’s Central Business District, Elijah Ombuki is just another helmeted figure weaving through traffic. But beneath the dust coat and the weary eyes of this boda boda rider lies a story that indicts a nation. Ombuki is not a dropout; he is a Bachelor of Science graduate from the University of Nairobi, a man who did everything right in a system that has gone tragically wrong.

Ombuki graduated in 2018 with a degree in Agricultural Education, armed with the promise that education was the key to success. Eight years later, that key has failed to open a single door. "I had hoped to teach and impact young lives," Ombuki says, his voice tinged with the resignation of a man who has knocked on too many closed doors. Instead of a classroom, his office is a motorbike; instead of lesson plans, he navigates potholes.

The JSS Mirage

The tragedy of Ombuki’s situation is compounded by the false dawns. In 2023, he briefly secured an internship with the Junior Secondary School (JSS) program. It felt like a breakthrough. However, the reality was brutal. The stipend—a meager KSh 17,000 after tax—was insufficient to sustain a family in Nairobi. "I nearly fell into depression," he recalls. The financial strain triggered severe migraines, forcing him to make a heartbreaking choice: quit the profession he loved to feed the family he loved.

He returned to the boda boda sector, where the income is volatile but immediate. His story is not unique; it is the anthem of a lost generation. Thousands of graduates are currently parking their degrees to ride bikes, wait tables, or hawk goods, their skills atrophying as the economy stagnates.

• The Statistics: Ombuki is one of thousands of education graduates left in limbo by the Teachers Service Commission (TSC).
• The Reality: A JSS intern earns less than a casual laborer in many sectors, devaluing the profession.
• The Resilience: Despite the setbacks, Ombuki affirms he has not lost hope, though his patience is wearing thin.

A Systemic Betrayal

Ombuki’s plight raises uncomfortable questions about the value of higher education in Kenya today. When a premier university’s science graduate cannot find dignified work for nearly a decade, the social contract is broken. The Lenana School alumnus represents a wasted national asset, a mind trained to solve food security problems now reduced to dodging traffic police.

As Ombuki revs his engine to pick up the next passenger, he carries with him the ghost of the teacher he should have been. His story is a stark reminder to the policymakers in their air-conditioned offices: a degree in Kenya is becoming less of a shield against poverty and more of a receipt for a promise that was never kept.