As Treasury Secretary Henry Rotich read the Budget Statement to a packed Parliament, millions of eyes across the country were glued to television screens, praying for a little good news.
Times have been hard on Kenyans, and no one has felt the burden as severely as those in the bottom rung of the economic ladder.
Mr James Oduor and his wife, Ms Caroline Anyango are a young couple with three school going children, two in primary and one in secondary school. They live in Kibera slums, making do with a congested shanty that offers little space and privacy. They pay Sh1,000 for two small rooms, up from the Sh500 they were paying a few months ago.
They can only afford one meal a day, and even then, it sets them back Sh200 every day.
“We know it is not healthy to eat so little, but we cannot afford anything more,” the young woman says. “An entire one kilogramme packet of unga is too expensive for us, so we settle for the smaller three quarter packet which we buy at Sh80. The rest of the money is spent on vegetables and fuel to cook the meal,” she adds.
Their biggest recurring expenditure is school fees for their three children. They pay about Sh30,000 per term for their daughter in Nyamira Girls High School; money they can ill-afford from the little they make from their grocery shop.
The younger children are in public primary schools, for which they pay a combined fee of Sh3,000 per term.Prior to the Budget Statement, the couple had nursed the hope that the government would abolish taxes on basic commodities to make life easier for Kenyans. This was not to be. They are now a disappointed that the Cabinet Secretary did not address the one issue most dear to them — the high cost of food.
“I guess we will continue to survive on one meal a day because nothing has been done to address food prices,” the mother says.
www.doitadigital.com