Many experts in economic development and education have lamented the impact of the brain drain on the country’s economic prospects. Many cite the brain drain as one reason for the country’s slow economic progress. In the last two decades or so, a large number of Kenyan professionals and students have left the country in search of greener pastures. While many of them hope to return, few actually do. In an increasingly globalized world, the war for talent is getting tougher. Professionals have now become the new mobile capital and, in fact, human capital is more beneficial to a country than money itself. As the late management theorist Peter F. Drucker pointed out, this is the age of the knowledge worker. Knowledge workers are expected to be at the frontier of economic development in this era of the knowledge economy. In a way, therefore, the calls by many experts for these brains to come home may be correct.

The brain drain starts right in fourth grade when students are taking their KCSE exams. In fact, many of the best students give our own universities a wide berth. This has been partly as a result of the deteriorating quality of education in many of our universities and partly because they have to wait at least two years before they can enroll in university. Therefore, by the time some students are taking their KCSE exams, they have already taken the SAT and TOEFL exams. KCSE is simply a test of formality and an alternative position in case they are not admitted to any of the top universities in the US. Top students from Alliance, Mang’u, Starehe, Narobi School, Precious Blood, among others , have already set their sights on studying at some of the world’s most prestigious universities. In fact, the trend is so common in some of the best schools that in a school like Alliance High School, for example, the class comprising the index one to thirty is marked exclusively as the Harvard class.

Other colleges have similar trends, though to a lesser extent. It’s also worth noting that since KCSE’s inception in 1989, all top KCSE students have received full scholarships to some of the world’s most prestigious universities. The only exception was Paul Bundi from Kenyakine High School in 2002 and Dickens Omanga from Friends school kamusinga in 2006. Perhaps the only reason the two students never went to a top US university is that they came from from lesser-known schools and therefore were not adequately equipped with information on how to search for scholarships. Some of the current students at top universities include John Kandie Rotich, formerly of Moi High School Kabarak, 2005 Outstanding Student and currently at MIT, Alliance alumnus Antony Mabonga, currently at Harvard College, John Kimani, formerly of Nairobi School and currently at Harvard and Anne wanjiku Mungai formerly of the lovely Blood Girls Riruta and currently at Harvard. So it is easy to see that it will be extremely difficult to keep those brains in the country.

The other great brain drain affects professionals. This is a particularly serious problem that is not unique to Kenya. This is a problem that manifests itself in most of sub-Saharan Africa. For example, according to estimates, there are more Malawian doctors in the UK than in Malawi.

One reason that has been cited for such brain drain is the poor working conditions and wages in the country. Conditions in many hospitals are truly dire, and sometimes it’s hard to rely on patriotism alone to keep doctors in hospital. Meritocracy should also be maintained, as it is not uncommon to find the person supervising you with fewer credentials than you.

Perhaps the global financial crisis is providing a respite as some of the brains have begun to return home. For example, James Mwangi, after a stint on Wall Street, is now back in the country as CEO of DALBERG. Another returnee is Mr. Edward Macharia, a biology major from Amherst University, who also returned to take up a position with a non-profit company. He had previously worked for the Clinton Global Initiative Fund.