Disclosure that Kenya has more poor people than Uganda despite being the largest economy in the region is confounding. The revelation is contained in a new joint report by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
The Global Monitoring Report 2013, which measures how well countries are doing economically and socially, shows a profound shift in regional economic power. Landlocked Uganda, which gets more than half of its imports through our country, seems to be doing much better than Kenya, perceived as the regional economic tiger.
According to the report, Kenya’s poverty head count stands at 43.37 per cent against Uganda’s 38.01 per cent using the poverty cut-off point of $1.25 per person. The poverty level scoring is based on the number of people living below Sh105 ($1.25) a day.
The right question to ask at this point is; how did we get to this point as a country?
There are many answers to this question, but it’s not lost to anyone that Kenya’s wealth portfolio is a skewed one. The reality is that while few Kenyans are affluent, majority of the populace cannot afford the basic necessities of life.
It is the only country in the world where the super rich hire choppers at Sh100,000 per hour to deliver 100 kilograms of food aid valued at Sh15,000 to poverty stricken citizens.
This illustrates the point that most of Kenya’s wealth is concentrated in the hands of very few individuals who find it prudent to accumulate even more at the expense of the majority poor. Poverty is a problem that affects all Kenyans, and it has reverberating effects on our entire economy.
It is the major cause of insecurity and when this happens, everyone, including the super rich are disadvantaged even though they may have several bodyguards.
Undoubtedly, there is a strong correlation between rising unemployment and poverty. Poverty cannot reduce when there is growing unemployment, no matter how optimistic we choose to be.
The lesson here is that we urgently need to find a solution to poverty-to help struggling families and to preserve the future of our nation and no one has a better opportunity to move this agenda forward than the new Government.
