By Kamau Edgar,
Perhaps the more perplexing paradigm, is the insufferable acceptance by the Kenyan populace of their echelon in the food chain but verily the difference between Kenyans living below a dollar a day and the 1% is simply mind boggling. That a bus full of rich people is wealthier than 42.6 million Kenyan citizens is jaw-dropping.
A recent report by Oxfam reveals that only 125 rich people in Kenya hold a majority of the country’s wealth out of the total population that is close to 50 million people. This vividly paints a grim picture of the ever-widening gap between the poor and the rich in the country. This is without a shred of doubt a tale of two nations living within the same border. Even as economic constraints and living conditions keep deteriorating, they are exacerbated by systemic and structural violence with the elite hellbent on controlling almost all aspects of possible providence for the already overburdened “wananchi.” Which is this straw that will finally break the camel’s back? It will be hypocritical to say that Kenyans are an indolent and indifferent people. For what it’s worth, Kenyans are very industrious and hardworking people, yet this report indicates that over 7 million Kenyan people live in abject poverty. Kenya’s 1% owns 78% of wealth. I dare say that this is extremely nefarious and beats every level of logic. It is difficult to wrap one’s head around, one amassing a preposterous amount of wealth when millions of Kenyans can barely afford soap let alone the basic necessity of pure running water for bathing and drinking.
We live in a country where the rich live lavishly whilst the poor struggle to swallow saliva. It is degenerate, the system has massively failed Kenyans and it is not even close. We live in a country where there is 300 billion to loot by the gluttonous political class which makes blunt promises days on end to gullible Kenyans whom unfortunately believe that they have no power to challenge the status-quo. According to the report, the poverty index has increased from 38% to 49%. This shows that there have not been active efforts to bridge the gap between the opulent and the pauper. The level of inequality is varied from the distribution of resources to the redistribution of power. The rich man keeps being rich while the poor man keeps languishing in pauperism and stinking of his own urine.
The cost of food itself has risen by 50% since 2020, inevitably pushing poor households to a very tight corner. Additionally, social services and public funding on critical sectors such as education, health and agriculture have been grievously underfunded. In 2024, the government reportedly spent sh. 68 in every sh. 100 collected in taxes, to service debt (that’s if it was not at all pocketed by unknown entities) leaving behind a very meagre amount for social spending. The Kenya Kwanza regime’s bottom-up does not seem to be having any notable proceeds, simply ‘growing the economy’ without employing a paradigm shift and implementing workable redistributive policies has not lifted many Kenyans above the subsistence level. Many households’ face food insecurity and the inability to cater for educational, healthcare services, and their prospects to earn a stable income dwindle each passing day. The level of inequality has deepened despite the increase in GDP.
While it’s arguable there exists a certain level of belief amongst of the larger section that this apathy is beyond their control, other issues come to the fore too. In as much as that attitude of indifference needs to be uprooted, the concentration of wealth amongst a few elites makes the redistribution even politically near to impossible. What is worth noting is that some of these elites have disproportionate influence. Worse still, government’s fiscal pressures are very highly exacerbated by constraints in revenue and debt servicing which makes the expansion of social spending difficult. It is clear that inequality is multi-faceted and it is not only linked with income. Reform approaches need be adopted in such a way that they are engineered to counter gender disparities, land disputes and the distribution of opportunities.
Bridging the egregious gap between the rich and the poor is not impossible. The incorporation of bold political will, structural changes and public pressure coupled with positive civic activism and the role of the media in enhancing public awareness. All of this are crucial in challenging the status quo and the present injustices. From fiscal reforms through not punitive but progressive taxation, supporting small-scale farmers, social protection for informal workers and gender-sensitive planning are all crucial in empowering poor Kenyans.