Causes of poverty in Kenya and the possible solutions

  

Date Posted: 2/28/2019 8:48:26 AM

Posted By: Justus mbindyo  Membership Level: Silver  Total Points: 672

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Causes of Poverty in Kenya and The Possible Solutions

Kenya is among the third world countries with high poverty rates. Kenya has around 40% of her population living below the poverty line, that is, their expenditure per day is less than one dollar or hundred Kenyan shillings. This challenge calls for a serious measures to be taken in order to reducing this levels which will only be reached through realizing the main causes of the poverty in order to get the right measures which will help in reducing the poverty levels to a reasonable percentage. The main causes of the poverty include but not limited to the factors discussed below with their possible solution.

Corruption: corruption is one of the main issues which are driving our country to hell. It is one of the supreme causes of poverty, apart from raising the poverty levels is also taking the country to a “dark pit”. Corruption has landed the country into the poverty in that a few steal from the government and organization for their own benefit. After this people have stolen the money they invest to generate incomes which finally brings inequality in the incomes. When this people hold the money in their accounts they tend to offer jobs to the poor at unfavorable wages, who after spending all their time working for them they are given their few coins which cannot meet their daily expenditures. When they continue working for the few the supply in the job market goes high thus reducing the demand for labor which in turn lowers the wage rates since the many of the unemployed are willing to work at any prevailing wage rates thus high exploitation of the workers.

Poor education system: The education systems applied in Kenya do not give the graduates the required skills needed

in the job market which later render them unemployed. Most of the people who graduate from the Kenyan universities they are not fit in the job market thus high unemployment rates which is the cornerstone of poverty. These graduates find it hard to start their own business due to lack of business skills as well as lack of starting capital. Since this education only offers graduates with only enlightment they still remain under poverty since they have nothing to cater for their basic needs.
Lack of healthcare and sanitation facilities: in Kenya most of the local areas which carries much of her population lack healthcare facilities and the few which are found they do not meet the standards which are required. Most of this health centers lack drugs and other important facilities for their effective functionality.

Political unrest: Kenya is one of the African countries which are faced with political unrest after their general elections. After the elections the country faces high tribal crisis due to the tribalism caused by the political parties, where if a candidate from a given region who was vying for presidential seat fails to win the respective tribes starts to fight for the share in the government. Due to this violence most of the economic activities goes down leading to close down of most businesses as well as barring the foreign investors from investing in the country. This greatly affects the country development which in turn increases the country’s poverty.

Population structure: The Kenyan population is composed of the youth who are below thirty years of age. In this composition eighty percent of the population is children who are still schooling. This composition has increased the levels of poverty in that they only consume the available resources and they do not partake in generation of new resources. The few of the employed they find it hard to save since they have many dependents thus they do take part investments which in turn retains the county’s economy stagnant which increase the poverty levels.

HIV/AIDS: The emergency of this disease has left many of the children without parents who find it hard to finance their education and in return they drop out of school and later join gangs who are shot down by the police. In addition, the infected people develop health complications which force them to drop their jobs thus reducing labor supply in the job market. This affects the economy in that the industries find it hard to get the workers with the required skills since they are advised not to work. This has increased the county’s poverty levels through increased dependency levels and school drop outs.
Unemployment: lack of employment opportunities in our country is one of the biggest challenge facing our country now. Most of the graduates find it hard to secure jobs since there are only limited job opportunities in the market. The government is not taking investments which could provide its youths with jobs due to lack of funds. The few youths who dare start their business finds it difficult to continue with the business due to high levies and taxes collected by the government which definitely leads to their close down.

Solutions
Since these challenges can be solved, these are my recommendations on how to reduce the poverty levels in our country.

The government should come up with measures to reduce the spread of HIV/AIDS through thorough youth education on the effects of the disease and issue free condoms to its citizens to reduce the spread rate of the disease within the country. In addition, the government can review its laws to lower its taxes as well as the levies for the small businesses to encourage the potential youth investors from within the country to engage in businesses which will help the country raise its gross income.
The government should invest heavily in the health sector to improve the domestic healthcare services as well as sanitation in order to raise the living standards of its citizen which in turn will help in reducing the levels of poverty in the country.

The government should come up with new education curriculum which will equip learners with appropriate skill to fit the job market. When the learners are offered with the appropriate skill they will find it easy for them to invest or invent new things which will provide employment opportunities to others.
The government should come up with campaigns to encourage its people to embrace family planning in order to control its population and help it to standardize its population composition.

The government should create a position for the prime minister to help eradicate the political unrest experienced in the country after elections. This will help in that all the top competing parties will feel represented since the run ups will hold an office.

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