Increase in poverty in Kenya in the 1980s

In the early eighties, poverty increased at a rapid rate in Kenya. At the time of Independence in 1963, Kenya took on many loans which did not need to be paid back until after a period of up to twenty years. By the 1980s these loans, and the interest on them, had to be paid, and much of the country‘s foreign currency earnings was used to repay them. An increase in the population, the lack of a corresponding increase in production, and the corruption of government officials and embezzlement of public assets and funds added to the problem. Shortage of arable land in some areas caused many people to shift to more fertile and less populated areas, and caused many others without sufficient income from the land to come into the cities and towns in search of work. Wars in neighbouring countries, tribal wars, insecurity, and the lack of a maintenance of infrastructure, led to investors fearing to invest too much and caused a drop in tourism, the country‘s chief foreign currency earner. Furthermore, recurrent drought and famine in Machakos, Kitui and north-eastern Kenya in the late seventies and early eighties brought thousands of people into Nairobi in order to survive.

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