Is This The Poorest County In Kenya?

If Kenya is getting richer, how can Kenyans be getting poorer?

Drawing on the statistical data, it is observed that much of the growth is related to trade, oil, telecom, finance, the stock market and real estate. And civil servants and corrupt politicians are also doing well. Yet none of these industries are labor intensive and do little to reduce the country’s very high unemployment rate. A consequence is that the distribution of income is getting worse, not better.

The counties of Turkana, Mandera, Samburu, Garissa, Busia and West Pokot are some of the poorest in the country, with majority of residents starving due to an inability to pay for basic food commodities.

Recent level of consideration were placed at Ksh. 3,252 as the limit wage in a family in rural areas to be considered as living below the poverty line on monthly basis in Kenya. Therefore, earning less than that amount in rural area categorize a person as living below the poverty line.

This means that he residents of these regions live on less than Sh100 every day for food and basic commodities, according to the latest data by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics.

Turkana has therefore been placed as among the county which has among the majority people living below the poverty line. According to Kenya Census 2019, Turkana population reached 1,016,174 people, equivalent to 2.1% of the population of Kenya.

The level of poverty in Turkana is highly contributed by nomadism. Turkana are considered as semi nomadic pastoralists mainly depending on rearing camels and traditional zebu cattle.

Climatic condition is another factor contributing to high level of poverty. The area is semi arid, where rainfall is very limited capable of promoting agricultural activities.

Turkana county is located in Northern Western part of Kenya and it is administratively divided into 7 sub counties, 30 wards and 56 locations.

As Turkana county continues to grow, the number of people that live in poverty within its borders should not expand with it. To alleviate poverty, it’s important to understand the causes:

1. Government Corruption

Since its founding, government corruption has plagued Turkana. This corruption is one of the major causes of poverty in Turkana. Government officials often take payments from resources that are supposed to go into public trusts—payments that can often total more than $20 million—and instead siphon that money into their own personal bank accounts.

When government officials engage in this kind of corruption, the poor and under-served populations within Turkana county are inevitably hurt. If these large sums of money stopped going into government officials’ pockets, the Turkana county government could use that money to build up the country’s infrastructure—electricity, roads, running water and more.

2. Lack of Economic Infrastructure

An infrastructure that supports economic growth at every level is essential to pull people out of poverty. In Kenya, economic infrastructure includes things like access to micro-credit that help farmers invest in their crops and entrepreneurs lift their businesses off the ground. Micro-credit is an especially important tool for Turkana women working to escape poverty.

Female entrepreneurship and autonomy can provide financial stability to entire families and, by extension, larger communities. Another one of the main causes of poverty in Turkana is the simple fact that many Turkanas do not have the means to escape their circumstances. Setting up economic structures that empower Turkana people is vital to combating poverty within the country.

3. Poor Access to Education

Economic infrastructure is not the only infrastructure that is lacking in Turkana. Currently, a lack of a robust educational system under-serves many of the poorest Turkana community. More Turkana children do not attend school at all, and 60% of those children are girls.

Education gives many the skills they need to enter the workforce and escape impoverishment, and the lack of educational opportunity is one of the truly devastating causes of poverty in Turkana.

4. Poor Access to Healthcare

Turkana might be one of the most populous county in Kenya, but they are running low on healthcare professionals. The current ratio of nurses, midwives and doctors to patients is 1.95 to 1,000.

With such a low density of medical care available, many people in Turkana either go completely without medical care or without enough medical care. But sickness is costly, and oftentimes can trap people into never-ending cycles of poverty. Improving Turkanas’ access to healthcare is an essential step to reduce the amount of poverty in Turkana.

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