More Kenyans slide deeper into poverty

Two million more Kenyans have sunk to the level of absolute poverty in the past 10 years, bringing the total number of the poor to 16.5 million, a new report reveals.

However, the report appears to paint a rosy picture of government efforts to reduce poverty, showing that its incidence had fallen from 52.2 per cent in 1999 to 46 per cent in 2005/6.

Only in Nairobi and Nyanza provinces have thousands of people fought their way out of the poverty trap, while a million people in the vast Rift Valley Province lost the battle and joined the ranks of the poor.

The figures are contained in the yet to be released Constituency Report on Well-Being, prepared by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics.

The report is based on the Kenya Integrated Household Budget Survey of 2005/6.

The report shows that in Nairobi Province, more than 255,000 people escaped from falling into the poverty trap that has ensnared nearly half of the population.

With statistics showing that the risk of entering the group declined from 44 per cent to 22 per cent, it is clear that only 618, 465 city (slightly over one fifth of the population) residents are living in poverty.

The overall poverty incidence in Nairobi declined from 43.9 per cent to 22 percent, almost by half.

Westlands (15.3 per cent) has the lowest incidence of poverty while Makadara in Eastlands is the highest in the province at 29.8 per cent. Other constituencies with more people are Kasarani and Embakasi.

In Central Province, 244,000 people joined the ranks of the poor.

The risk of falling into poverty declined by a small margin, from 31.1 per cent in 1999 to 30.9 per cent.

Increase in poverty was noted mostly in Nyandarua district (Kinangop, Kipipiri, Ol-Kalou and Ndaragwa). Kipipiri and Kinangop posted the highest levels of poverty, with the former scoring 59.3 per cent.

However, all constituencies in Kirinyaga district — Mwea, Gichugu, Ndia and Kerugoya Kutus — recorded decreased incidence of poverty.

In Coast province, more than 500,000 people became poor during the period of the survey, increasing the total number to 1.9 million.

The poverty incidence in the region increased from 57.8 per cent in 1999 to 59 per cent in 2005/2006 with Msambweni(11.2 per cent), Kinango (10.8 per cent), Malindi (7.9 per cent), Bahari (7.8 per cent) and Kaloleni (7.7 per cent).

However, the incidence of poverty decreased at varying rates in all constituencies in Mombasa, Lamu, Kilifi and Taita Taveta (except Voi).

In Eastern Province where 2.94 million people — more than half the population — lives in poverty, more than 317,000 people joined them.

The poor are mostly concentrated in the districts of Ukambani and those of upper Eastern, with North Horr hitting 94.7 per cent. That explains why the poverty incidence rose sharply in North Horr, Saku, Laisamis, Isiolo North and Isiolo South in spite of the levels reducing from 58.3 percent in 1999 to 50.5 per cent in 2005/6.