Debate rages over whether Kenya can achieve its dream of becoming the ‘Singapore of Africa’ within a generation, given the significant challenges it faces. The level of success achieved in realising the aspirations of Kenya Vision 2030 serves as a crucial gauge in this regard.
However, one thing is clear; our society is now more unequal than ever. A 2025 report by Oxfam shows that the top 125 richest individuals in Kenya now own more wealth than the bottom 42.6 million people combined. A large part of this wealth is concentrated in the top five counties.
The catch here is that countries are usually categorised as either high income, middle income or least developed, based on GDP per capita, a measure obtained by dividing a country’s total output by its population, rather than absolute GDP size. For instance, Kenya is a lower-middle-income country not because of its $ 136 billion economy, but because of its average income per person which stood at $ 2,132 in 2024.
This makes it a policy imperative to uplift the lives of the marginalised. Arid and Semi-Arid Lands (ASALs), in particular, have remained economically and socially disadvantaged. Thanks to decades of neglect, these regions still lag in access to education, health care, electricity, and other social services.
They are also almost synonymous with drought and famine. This is reflected in their counties’ meagre relative contribution to the national output. Reversing this trend will take the combined effort of both levels of government.
Unless we bridge this gap, the odds will be stacked against us. The overall economy will continue to grow. Jobs will be created in other places, but a fraction of the people will continue to live on the sidelines of the economy.
A rich minority and poor majority condemn a country to low human capital development. This is especially visible in India which is the world’s fourth largest economy but remains a developing country due to a large population of rural poor in states such as Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.
There are only two ways of reducing inequality in any society: making the poor wealthier and making the wealthy less rich.