Keep away expensive gifts, cards and new clothes, the majority want money and peace

Christmas decoration at Thika Road Mall. (Photo:Wilberforce Okwiri/Standard)

If you are locked up in a vicious cycle of walking in and out of shops or frantically browsing websites to find the ideal gifts for your loved one, look no further. Kenyans have spoken and there is only one gift you can give that will enrich the festive season.

No, it is not the gift of life at a time when public hospitals have ceased to function, nor is it the recently discovered Ebola vaccine in an era where disease outbreaks wipe out hundreds of thousands annually.

It is something that hits closer home in an era of harsh economic realities. A recently released survey shows that majority of Kenyans will be much happier if you hand them a cheque, an envelope with wads of cash or if they wake up to the all familiar M-Pesa message on their phones from you.

Harsh economy

This Christmas, 50.4 per cent of Kenyans say a cash gift over all else would be the ultimate present. So you can keep the Christmas cards and all those cheesy social media forwards to yourself. Kenyans aged between 45-50 lead the pack of those with a particular liking to currency, with 65 per cent of them professing that a cash gift would be perfect.

Sixty per cent of those above 60 years also prefer cash. So think twice next time you think of buying your grandfather a blanket or a woolen sweater, he has had a lifetime of those. A pocket full of cash might just be all he needs to live on the sunny side of life.

Second on Kenyans’ wish list for Christmas is food. Twenty four per cent of those polled by Infotrak confess that a food gifting during this period will bring back the festive spirit. Latest data by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) shows that inflation has seen the cost of almost all food items increase. In December, tomatoes recorded the highest rise in price among selected food items.

Cabbages, sukuma wiki and other foods too have seen a price hike over the past month leaving Kenyans spending a bigger chunk of their income on food. In July, another survey showed that at least eight out of 10 Kenyans go to bed either on an empty stomach or without having had enough to eat.

But a section of Kenyans would still prefer more traditional gifts. Clothes come third on the Christmas wish list, with 15 per cent of those polled saying new clothes would turn their holidays from a dull affair into a marvelous season. Twenty per cent of those who would prefer clothes are women.

On the contrary, only nine per cent of men would have a smile on their face if you show up with new clothes for them.

The preference to cash over all else during this period points to the growing harsh economic times that are currently facing Kenyans. Even as a minority plans to elaborately celebrate the festive season, 29 per cent of Kenyans say they have nothing to spend during this time, the biggest percentage of this group being those aged above 56 years. This perhaps points to a deeper societal issue of neglect of society’s aged.

Slightly under 30 per cent of Kenyans say their tight budgets only allow them to spend between Sh1,000 and Sh5,000 on the festivities.

Twenty one per cent say they will spend between Sh5,000-10,000. But in a world of stark inequalities, just over five per cent of Kenyans say they will spend between Sh20,000 and Sh50,000.

Before purchasing that gift, make sure you get it right. That small gesture of love in the holiday season might set the tone of your relationship with those close to you for the rest of the year.