Poverty reduction remains a major challenge in Kenya.
More than half of the Kenyan population constitutes people living in poverty. However, according to research, 36.1 % of Kenya’s population live below the international poverty level (Ali, 2017). This poverty level is made worse by economic inequality, major corruption in the government coffers, and sometimes health issues. Other reasons for the high poverty level in Kenya include; landlessness, lack of education, unemployment, gender imbalance and vulnerability, and low agricultural productions (Ali, 2017). In light of the above, the Kenyan Government is working on alleviating poverty, and the following strategies are in place;
Facilitate sustained and rapid economic growth
This system aims to create economic growth that can be maintained over time without any interference of economic problems, especially for future generations. The above strategy is one of the effective methods that the Kenyan Government has put to alleviate poverty among its citizens (Ali, 2017). This strategy works by attempting to satisfy the Kenyan people’s needs while ensuring that the natural resources and the environment are taken care of for future generations. So this balances between now and the future.
- Improve the quality of life
The second strategy that Kenya has put in place is improving the quality of life. Quality of life means the general well being of the people within the society. As highlighted above in the introductions, so many factors contribute to the high poverty level in Kenya. As mentioned, lack of education, unemployment, insecurity, health issues, among others, contribute to increased poverty levels (Aloo et al., 2017). To sum up, all these factors say that there is low-quality life among many people in Kenya. However, Kenya is working on improving the quality of life that will see the poverty level reduced.
- Improve governance and security
The third strategy that the Kenyan government has put in place is governance improvement. Kenya’s governance is indeed poor (Aloo et al., 2017). Corruption in the government coffers has is not something to hi. It is a giant monster that leaves citizens of every country destitute. Through improved governance, there would be transparency, accountability, and proper management of public affairs, and hence there would be effective delivery of services to the citizens. The new constitution of Kenya has established an independent commission called Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC), whose role is to promote integrity and to combat corruption in all means possible. Other bodies that work hand in hand with EACC are the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) and Office of Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP).
- Improve equity and participation
Chapter four of the constitution of Kenya talks about the bills of right. Among the rights entitled to every Kenyan citizen are the rights to equity and participation. People should not be judged based on ethnic color, race, gender, nor sex. For a long time, inequality has been a significant contributor to Kenya’s high poverty level because of corruption and whatnots. Kenyan government is working on improving equity and participation hence alleviating poverty(Siringi, 2011).
- Raise poor people’s ability to earn a living.
Raising poor people’s ability to earn a living strategy aims at impacting the people with knowledge on how to make money on their own without necessarily depending on the government (Siringi, 2011). Among these methods are agriculture and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Through these methods, Kenyan people, especially those living in poverty, can earn a living for themselves.
Big Push Theory
Big push theory is a concept in development economics whereby a company’s decision to industrialize or not solely depends on what other companies will do. P.N. Rosenstein-Rodan initiated the approach. It is astringent variant of the theory on how to balance growth. The view tends to explain that the development process anywhere does not happen smoothly; instead, it must be interrupted by so many things. Any development globally involves a series of discontinuities and pumps according to the Big push theory of development (Kline & M, 2014). Further, the factors that affect the economic growth in a country are functionally interrelated and marked by many discontinuities.
According to this theory, any economic development strategy that tends to rely on the philosophy of economic gradualism must go through frustrations. When the economy has hit the wall through frustrations, it is only through the “Big Push” that the economy can rise from stagnation (Kline & M, 2014). In essence, “Big Push” enhances the smooth running of any given economy such that a high level of production and income can be achieved. In other words, this theory is trying to mean that unless a significant initial momentum is used in a given economy, it is bound to fail to achieve its growth.
To overcome the discontinuities, frustrations, and a few in a given economy, a significant initial momentum needs to be imparted to get everything going (Kline & M, 2014). The momentum to be imparted to the economy will result in an end in the disjointness. Once it is done, then diseconomies of scale that may come about after the beginning of the developments are offset. According to Professor Rosenstein-Rodan, the importance of the external economies is one of the major points of the variations of the theory of growth and the static one (Todaro & Smith, 2012).
This theory justifies industrial development in developing countries. Launching a country into a self-sustaining growth has no difference in making an airplane on the ground to fly up (Todaro & Smith, 2012). in getting an airplane flying, there must be some critical ground speed that must be applied to be airborne. Otherwise, it would fail to take off. The same applies to countries that are developing. There must be some initial momentum that must be imparted to make their economies grow from stagnation. They need to be revitalized with some energy to get them growing.
For developing countries to witness the growth of their economies, then governments must invest well in infrastructure. Look at how the infrastructures of the developed countries are like (Udeh & Odo, 2017). Infrastructure brings about economic development. Developing countries should copy what the developed countries are doing in matters infrastructure in order to get their economies out of stagnations.
The developing countries must also learn the new strategies on how to eliminate poverty (Udeh & Odo, 2017). destitution is a trap that has seen many developing countries’ economies frustrated for quite a long time. The main cause is corruption by the people in power hence there ineffective delivery of services to the common people. If the developing countries can impart some initial momentum to their governance, they would realize their economies’ smooth running.
Developing countries have a lot to do to ensure that their economies get going. Among them are; promoting education, boosting agriculture, asking for foreign aid, avoiding embezzling the same, improving production techniques, and creating more jobs to unemployed (Udeh & Odo, 2017). The above will be a big push in their economies hence improvement.