Photo courtesy of Oxfam Kenya

With over 10 million Kenyans living below the ‘food poverty line’ it will perhaps come as no surprise that official statistics show the gap between rich and poor in Kenya has widened after a temporary narrowing during the coronavirus pandemic.

The income received by the richest Kenyans is now at a record share of the country’s income.

According to figures released by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS), income inequality in Kenya rose to 38.9 per cent in 2021, up from 35.8 per cent in 2020.

The KNBS figures are based on a measurement known as the ‘Gini coefficient’ in which 0 per cent equates to full equality and 100 percent the greatest level of income inequality.

Wealth inequality in Kenya has increased since the pandemic

Even though Kenya’s economy has grown, wealth is concentrated a small section of the population.

Inequality had fallen during the pandemic as those on higher income saw their earnings falling just as poorer Kenyans received a temporary increase in benefits which came to an end in 2021.

The income inequality highlighted by the KNBS figures is distorted by the concentration of wealth in Nairobi and hence a much wider wealth gap compared to the regions.

The KNBS report said that the “poorest quintile accounts for 7.4 percent of total consumption while the richest quintile accounts for 42.2 percent of consumption implying significant disparities in welfare”.

Kenya’s poor were affected more than wealthier classes

Unexceptional economic activity over the last three years has served to consolidate income inequality as fewer jobs and flat-lining income has hit the middle-class hardest.

Meanwhile, inflation running at 8.0 percent year-on-year has adversely affected the poorest sections of society in Kenya, particularly since inflation in basic commodities such as food, fuels and housing is running at even higher levels than the overall rate.

However, even as the wealth gap widens the number of officially poor Kenyans fell by a million over the same period.