THE PRICE YOU PAY FOR BEING POOR IN KENYA!

 


What is Poverty? Investopedia[1] defines Poverty as a state or condition in which a person or community lacks the financial resources and essentials for a minimum standard of living. Poverty means that the income level from employment is so low that basic human needs can't be met. Poverty-stricken people and families might go without proper housing, clean water, healthy food, and medical attention. World Bank defines the extreme poor as those living on less than $1.90 a day.

The Kenya Poverty Index was at 29% in 2018 (Approx 14.7M Kenyans) and was ranked eighth globally and sixth in Africa among countries with the largest number of people living in extreme poverty, according to the World Poverty Clock report, as they consume less than $1.90 (Sh197) per day or Sh5,910 monthly. The average household size according to the Kenyan Census, 2019 is 3.9.  This therefore means, approximately 3,769,230 Kenyan households are living in abject poverty or below the poverty line.  

Is being in Poverty an expensive situation in Kenya? I chose to canvass through one scenario that is always overlooked to support my argument;

Communication: According to the 2019 census report, at least 20,694,315 people own a mobile phone in Kenya and this number is out of the total population of 43, 739,906 who are aged three years and above. This translates to 47.3 per cent of mobile ownership. An average Kenyan earning steady monthly income of between Kshs. 30,000 -50,000 today has a variety of options to choose from when it comes to which platform to use for communication purposes compared to persons living in abject poverty. As a result of these available options, someone from this income bracket (Kshs. 50,000/pm) can comfortably allocate Kshs. 1,000 per month communication (Calling, texting, data), if he or she decides to patronize airtel, he/she will be able at his disposal, to receive 10GB data, 400 Minutes talk time and 2,000 sms all that can be used in communicating to all other networks valid for a month, and often rolled over to the next month if the subscriber retains the same subscription. If we compare this case with a case of someone who lives below the poverty line of Kshs. 197 per day, this particular individual ends up spending at least Kshs. 50 per day, most of the time unconsciously- on airtime for communicating leading to a monthly spending of approx Kshs. 1,500. The difference between these two people is Kshs. 500 per month (Kshs. 1,500- Kshs. 1,000) which therefore means that this person living below the poverty line ends up paying additional Kshs. 500 to communicate in a Month compared to someone earning approx Kshs. 50,000 per Month. According to the 2018 poverty index statistics, it reveals that 14.7M Kenyans were living below the poverty line. If we assume 75% (0.75*14,700,000=11,025,000 persons) of these Kenyans communicate regularly via their mobile phones (calls, sms, data), they will painfully be forced to part with Kshs. 5.51B (11,025,000* Kshs. 500) extra on a monthly basis. This is what I will call the “Price you pay for being Poor in Kenya”.

It is my considered opinion that, if the people below the poverty line are halved in the next 10 years, it will translate to savings of at least Kshs 2.5 B per Month from “Communication Monies” which can be utilized in accessing other basic needs like water, healthy food and medical attention. Moving forward, The MAIN FOCUS should be on the lower part of the pyramid. But again the conundrum is the “HOW”.

Authored by;

Brian N. Kavuwa.

briventures@gmail.com. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The 8:00 am - 5:00 pm Office Time Myth Post-Covid-19!

Image
Brief History of 8:00 am – 5:00 working Time. During the Industrial Revolution, companies attempted to maximize the output of their factories by keeping them running as many hours as possible, typically implementing a “sun up to sun down” work day.  Wages were also extremely low, so workers themselves often needed to work these long shifts just to get by, including often sending their children to work in the factories as well, rather than getting them educated.  With little representation, education, or options, factory workers also tended to work in horrible working conditions to go along with the bad hours.  The typical work day at this time lasted anywhere from 10-18 hours per day, six days a week.  This all began to change in the 19th century. The first to suggest an eight hour work day for everyone was a British man by the name of Robert Owen, who was also one of the founders of socialism.  Owen felt that the work day should be divided into thirds, ...
Read more

THE PROPOSED FREE SCHOOL MILK! HOW SUSTAINABLE IS IT?

Image
A Senate Bill proposes all pupils be given free milk at school to improve their nutrition. The free school milk programme, Maziwa ya Nyayo, was introduced by President Daniel Moi in the 1980s. The Basic Education (Amendment) Bill, 2020 sponsored by nominated Senator Beatrice Kwamboka (ODM) proposes re-introduction of free supply of milk to all pupils and pre-primary learners. The Bill comes at a time when the government-funded school feeding programme has run into trouble due to a Sh500 million budget cut and the exit of the big donor, the World Food Programme [1] . When these proposals are put forward, the proposers never break down the details (numbers) of the bill and the public never get to ask what exactly this bill translates to financially. It is high time we Kenyans get to interact with what our so called Leaders proposals, because eventually there will be a direct impact on the country’s spending which is our taxes. A s at 2018, KNBS reported that there were 8,700,000 pri...
Read more

De-Mystifying HELB-nomics.

Image
  On average, a Kenyan would spend approximately 4 years in the University to complete and graduate an undergraduate course. Higher Education Loans Board (HELB) provides student loans to University students to a tune of Kshs. 200,000, translating to Kshs. 50,000 p.a. By 2019, a total of 125,746 students were set to join different universities in Kenya. Assuming that each of these students received Kshs. 200,000 for the 4 year study period, it will be a whooping Kshs . 25.2B. Our Kenyan education system has for a long time been one that is pre-designed to churn out “job seekers” rather than “job creators” resulting to a ballooning populace of Kenyans supposedly with degrees. The Kenyan Economic survey, 2019-KNBS, indicated that 83.6% ( Kenya’s informal sector employs nearly  15 million  Kenyans, according to 2018 estimates, compared to the  2.9 million  who work in the formal sector. These 15 million Kenyans are the domestic workers, cleaners, beauticians, mec...
Read more