THE CRISIS WE CALL POVERTY

''Kenya is a country in Africa. Although its economy enjoys the leading position in eastern and central Africa, 53% of its population lives below the poverty line. This severe poverty is mainly caused by undiversified economy, social inequality, government corruption, health problems, and a water crisis. In turn, poverty also worsens these factors. Fortunately, Kenya’s government has made many efforts to address the issue of poverty, and it has gotten help from international institutions as well. In the last decade, in accordance with the data provided by the World Bank, the amount of Kenyans living under the international poverty line has dropped significantly. And the incident rate of poverty has kept decreasing, as shown by a recent MPI index. However, the solution to poverty in Kenya still needs long-term efforts. ''

This is what is found on wikipedia. This is how the world sees Kenya and unfortunately it is all true and as Kenyans we are not doing as much as we ought to. many foreighn agensies and foundations come to take care of our problem for us while we seat idly by and watch them but i believe that we can do better and become part of the solutin no just be part of the problem.

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The following information mainly focuses on trends of Kenya’s poverty from 1990 to 2007.

In the 1990s, the reduction about 5% in GDP growth rate has indicated that Kenya’s economic become stagnate and even shrink. The teetering economy made the poverty issue be much more severe, reflected by 12% ascending poverty incidence rate from 2000 to 2003. In order to address the issue, the government introduced some policies, such as National Poverty Eradication Plan and Poverty Reduction Strategy. However, due to ineffectively implement, it failed to alleviate poverty radically.

After the new government taking office in 2003, there were early signs of economic recovery in Kenya. The annual GDP growth rate had continued to go up during the period from 2003 to 2007. Owing to the success of Economic Recovery Strategy developed by the new government, children had free access to the primary education. To some extent, improved education level and economic boom had eased the poverty in Kenya.