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More than 90 percent of Kenyan’s incomes fall as a result of COVID-19

SHAFAQNA- More than 90 percent of Kenyans have seen their incomes fall as a result of COVID-19, and nearly three quarters of families have had to dip into savings – typically money set aside for school fees – according to Financial Sector Deepening Kenya.

Saidi Mburi’s shop sales are a good barometer of the economic health of Kibera, Nairobi’s largest informal settlement, and they have been terrible. After months of COVID-19 curfews, transport restrictions, and social distancing measures, “people just don’t have money,” he told The New Humanitarian. His cramped one-man store has always offered credit to regular customers, but now “people can’t pay, and it’s affecting me as well.” There are gaps on the shelves because he’s stocking just the basics: bread, sugar, milk, and maize meal – anything else is a “luxury” people can no longer afford.

Wajenge was employed on the construction of a new office block in Nairobi’s wealthy Westlands district. His dusty bag of tools still sits beside his bed, as if he expects to be off to work in the morning as usual. Without his wage packet, his family of six are now down to two meals a day, “and sometimes it’s just lunch”, he said. His wife helps out by washing clothes, “but that’s rare”: Kibera is a COVID-19 hotspot, and people hesitate to hire domestic workers from here. One in five Kenyans live in slums devoid of basic public services – from water to sanitation – as a result of systemic neglect.

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