Feeling Lower Middle Economic Today?
Just as we sent in our Downtown issue to the printers the Kenya Bureau of Statistics announced that Kenya is now a lower middle income country after a recalculation that showed our economy as 25% larger than previously thought(despite poverty levels in the country remaining at 45.9%, and life expectancy still at 61 years according to a World Bank estimate). As you can imagine, creating the downtown issue had us spending a lot of time with Nairobi’s lower income residents who are some of the most opinionated and strong people we’ve ever met. None of them gives a rat’s ass about whether we’re a middle income or lower income economy because at the end of the day the news only mattered to a select few. Sure the news will drive investments upwards (will it?) boost tourism (really?) and encourage loan institutions such as the World Bank to afford us larger interest loans (is that a good thing?).
See as our government rolls forward on their wave of euphoria and great PR that they forget that the common mwananchi, the Wanjikus as some like to refer to them, are still wallowing in poverty. We mention PR because the fact that our president is being tried for crimes against humanity has been eclipsed by him handing over power to his deputy. We aren’t saying that he’s guilty (he very well might be) or innocent (he very well might be) but that the whole thing is being handled like he’s gone on holiday. This is similar to how they’re treating the news that we’re now a lower middle income economy. Big smiling faces saying that they’re proud of what our country has achieved meanwhile most of the nation lives below the poverty line. It’s like they all live in a little bubble of denial that they’ll never leave till 2030 is past and 45.9% of our country is still poor with little or no access to medical care.
We live in country where the highest earner for our GDP, agriculture responsible for, receives barely any government assistance. Oh, sure they do jump in when people in our country are facing starvation but other than that not enough is being done. Starvation an easily solved problem if they worked on agriculture!
We asked some random people on the street what they thought about our middle income status
Njoro Matatu, Tout Rt 48 (to Westlands)
Mkate imedrop? Na rent? Haiya basi unga? Ngata ya hii gari yetu? Vitu useless hawa wasee wa gava wanatushow.Wanafaa kusema hizo vitu zitashuka lini. Next week ama mtoi wangu atakua age yangu ikihappen?
Has the price of bread dropped? How about rent? Ok then flour? Fuel for this car? The government keeps giving us useless information. They need to tell us when these prices will drop. Next week or will my son be my age when it happens.
Allan Rauondo, Kyuna Resident, Former Student
I identify myself as a former student because I’m pretty sure I’ll be unemployed for a while. I applied for money from the youth fund last year still nothing so far, it’s been 20 months. Went to the bank and I couldn’t get a loan to start a business from there, I think I’ve been to nearly every one. So you know what, screw that lower middle income nonsense they should tell us when we can get the youth fund money because i need to eat.
Wanjiru Mbugua Economics Student Daystar
Well, I’ve seen the report and I’m excited about it. I feel that a lot of investors will come in and our GDP will again increase. I still think they should have waited longer before recalculating though, if we look much more affluent than we are then we might not qualify for interest free loans from the World Bank. Which, despite corruption that makes half the money disappear, is still essential for relief programmes, education and infrastructure.
