[goody2shooz]

Good for Kenya! Kenyans in the process of training, or have been trained and are unemployed and looking for work, are the people who would benefit from this event.

I would like to see the United States do something like this as well. The problem is our tax code. Many companies refuse to train employees anymore; the agument is they fear the worker will leave for a better job.

Duh! You leave before you're laid off.

[cyborg]

Yes you are right, and also to have a program like this, would mean more government involved in businesses... who needs that?

[propertius]

I would beg to differ. This is going to have a very negative impact on Kenya's economy, which is in the gutter -- consumer spending has shrunk by a massive 25 percent this year.
In many cases there are no Kenyans who can do these jobs, the skilled labour market being very small.
In a robust economy I would say all well and good, but when a country is crying out for foreign direct investment you cannot start imposing regulations on who potential investors can or cannot employ.
If President Kibaki is genuine in his unrealistic election pledge of creating 500,000 jobs a year he needs to throw open the doors to legitimate, professional multinationals, and remove any hinderances that would hamper their operations. That would create far more jobs than this policy decision -- which may force foreign companies to close and will certainly affect tens of thousands of Kenyans who are dependent for their livelihoods on these foreigners.