Poverty, Policy, and Power: How Kenya’s Choices Shape Its People

 

In Kenya, poverty is not an accident. Concentrated wealth is not a natural outcome. Inequality is not something that “just happens.” These are policy choices made by those in power, and since 2013 those choices have repeatedly favoured political patronage, elite enrichment, and reckless borrowing over broad‑based economic empowerment. The result has been rising unemployment, growing poverty, spiralling national debt, and public resources siphoned off into private coffers.

The evidence is in the trail of scandals that have marked Kenya’s recent economic history. One of the most egregious examples is the Arror, Kimwarer and Itare dam scandal, a project sold to Kenyans as transformative infrastructure but which became emblematic of mismanagement and corruption. Kenya borrowed tens of billions of shillings to fund these dams — only for the projects to stall and be cancelled amid allegations of irregularities and financial misconduct. The Auditor‑General’s reports show that Kenya defaulted on repayments totaling billions, leaving taxpayers to service loans on dams that either don’t exist or have barely begun construction. Sh19.8 billion was paid in advance to offshore firms even though the works weren’t started as scheduled, and loans continue to balloon because of interest and restructuring arrangements that lack transparency. 

Former Treasury Cabinet Secretary Henry Rotich and other senior officials were charged with corruption in connection with the deals, accused of facilitating irregular offshore payments and deliberately bypassing constitutional safeguards by routing money outside the Consolidated Fund. Prosecutors alleged that the government made large advance payments and payments for unnecessary insurance premiums, which were then channelled into private accounts rather than productive work. 

Yet the legal and political outcomes raise alarm bells: in late 2023, Rotich and others were acquitted after a prosecution that civil society groups described as inadequate and mishandled, reinforcing perceptions of institutional capture and impunity. 

This pattern isn’t isolated. Other programmes supposedly intended to reduce unemployment have failed under a cloud of mismanagement. The Kenya Youth Employment Opportunities Programme (KYEOP), backed by a World Bank loan, pumped billions into supposed job creation. But auditors found that many beneficiaries could not be traced, raising questions about phantom recipients and potential leakage of funds into private hands. 

At the same time, Kenya’s external debt has soared. A combination of Eurobonds, Chinese loans (like those used for the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR)), and other borrowing has pushed national debt into the trillions of shillings. The SGR project, for instance, has been financed largely through borrowing and has been criticised for inflated costs and opaque terms that enrich select contractors while burdening taxpayers with steep repayment obligations for decades. 

According to civil society and investigative reporting, a significant portion of Kenya’s debt — potentially up to 30 per cent — may be tied to corrupt practices such as inflated contracts, phantom works, and dubious procurement. These practices increase the cost of borrowing and channel benefits toward politically connected elites rather than the public good. 

The human impact of these policy choices is unmistakable. While a handful of individuals and companies profit, ordinary Kenyans face a shrinking job market, an economy that offers few secure opportunities, and public services that remain underfunded. Youth unemployment remains persistently high despite the billions spent on programmes that promised livelihoods. Poverty rates stay stubbornly elevated because the economy fails to absorb new entrants into the labour force, and because wealth created by borrowing never trickles down to meaningful, productive work for the majority.

Meanwhile, the debt burden grows. Kenya spends an increasing share of national revenue on servicing debt instead of investing in health, education, or economic transformation. Young professionals struggle to find jobs. Small businesses grapple with high costs and limited credit. Families cope with rising living costs as the shilling weakens and inflation bites — yet the country continues to borrow without effective accountability mechanisms.

What underpins these outcomes is a political economy where policy design reflects the interests of powerful few rather than the needs of the many. Procurement processes remain opaque, financial oversight is weak, and high‑level corruption cases often fail to lead to convictions or systemic reforms. When the very mechanisms meant to protect public resources — such as the Consolidated Fund, Parliamentary oversight, and Auditor‑General audits — are bypassed, the result is predictable: the public pays, and the elite benefit.

Kenya’s socio-economic landscape reminds us that policy choices have real human consequences. Poverty is not an inevitability—it is a consequence of neglect, mismanagement, and deliberate structuring of systems that favor the few. Concentrated wealth is not accidental—it reflects the design of a state that prioritizes elite enrichment over citizen empowerment. Inequality is not natural—it is enforced through selective policies, opaque governance, and systemic corruption.

Kenya stands at a crossroads. The choices made by policymakers since 2013 have shaped the current landscape of inequality, unemployment, and debt‑driven poverty. But ordinary Kenyans — through civic engagement, accountability pressures, and demands for transparent governance — retain the power to shift policy priorities. If debt is a policy choice, then so too can be prosperity; if inequality is engineered, then equality can be pursued; if corruption undermines development, then justice and reform can be demanded.

The lesson is clear: citizens have the power to demand accountability and shape policy. They can insist on governance that serves the many, not the powerful few. Kenya’s future is not preordained. By holding leaders accountable, promoting transparent policies, and prioritizing citizen welfare over political expediency, the country can move toward a system that reduces poverty, generates employment, and distributes wealth more equitably. Until then, the policies of the powerful will continue to define the hardships of the ordinary Kenyan.