Kiambu County: Land of few millionaires, million paupers

By Eric Wainaina

It is rated among the wealthiest counties, but a visit to Kiambu paints a different picture. The county is home to some of the wealthiest people in the country but also has the poorest sandwiched between the rich.

For decades Kiambu was rated the top richest region before it was displaced by Kajiado but everything in it betrays the assumption that most of its people are millionaires.

According to Kenya County Fact Sheets report published by the Commission on Revenue Allocation two years ago, Kiambu was said to be, for ages, the richest area in Kenya, reading Sh9 billion in business riches during its centenary.

But most of its inhabitants live below the poverty line, go without food and depend on manual jobs to eke a living.

A spot check by The Standard reveals a huge part of the County especially in Ruiru, Kiambu, Juja and Limuru areas, is owed by a few people who used their proximity to the Government to enrich themselves.

Casual labour

Thousands of residents are employees in tea and coffee estates earning as low as Sh130, despite the prices of the two produces doing well internationally.

Against the expectations of many Kenyans, mud-walled and grass-thatched houses dot most parts of this region.

Monica Wambui, 37, a mother of five aged between four and 15 years, was born and raised in Kiambu and wonders why the county is considered among the richest. She lives in Matrophi village in Kiambaa and works as casual labourer in coffee plantations, earning Sh150 per day.

She says the job is erratic, adding that when there is job to be done, she has to be in the farm by 7am and work through to 3pm. “You miss an hour, you get less wage or miss the job altogether.”

For this family, breakfast and lunch are luxuries and the dinner they have is worse than what her employer affords for pets.

“From the little we earn and the harsh economy, we cannot afford three meals a day and our children are used to it,” says Wambui, who lives in a one-roomed grass-thatched house.

Her house has her bed covered with tattered blankets while her children use sacks laid out on the earthen floor next to the fireplace and the rest of the space is where they sit and store housewares, on the floor.

Three of her children attend nearby Kongo Primary which has dilapidated infrastructure while the other two stay at home playing with neighbours while she goes to work.

Scramble for ‘Aid’

But as Wambui and thousands of other families struggle with life, on the other hand their employers own plush and luxurious homes, some even complete with swimming pools, eat the best meal and their children attend the best schools in the country.

Before we could go far with the interview, her neighbours learn that she has a visitor who is taking note of her problems. They start arriving all with similar problems, mistaking this writer for an official from a NGO taking figures to later assist them.

“Please write my case. I have six children and we have nothing to eat. I would like you to bring me food when you bring it to others,” Ms Jacinta Wanja tells this writer as other women try to shout for their cases to be documented.

In this county, there are dozens of tea and coffee estates with each employing at least 100 workers.

Kiambu hosts renowned tycoons such as the late Njenga Karume, Stanley Githunguri, the Kenyatta family, Charles Njonjo, the Koinange family, James Kanyotu, Nginyo Kariuki, Kuria Kanyingi and Titus Muya among others.

Josephine Wakiburi, head teacher at Kongo, says often children fail to attend school to help their parents in manual jobs.

She also says children flock in when they have a feeding programme since it’s the only chance they have lunch.

“Parents send their children to school so that they can have lunch since they cannot afford it back at home. And unless there is a sponsor, the children do not go to high school because they don’t have money to pay fees,” Wakiburi.

Cases of jigger infestation are high in the county, attracting Ahadi Kenya Trust, the anti-jigger campaigner.

According to Mr Stanley Kamau, the executive director of the organisation, there are about 17,600 children and 8,000 adults who are living with jiggers, and this he said has been caused by poverty standards.

According to a survey conducted in 2005 by the Kenya Bureau of Statistics, poverty in Kiambu stood at 25.4 per cent.

But Mr Francis Gitau, chairman for the Kiambu County Red Cross chapter said according to their recent survey, 53 per cent of the county population lived below the poverty line.

Kiambu County has a population of 1.5 million as per the recent census results. There is not enough land for farming due to the high population.

Rating problems

A drive from Kiambu to Limuru via Karume’s Cianda home, are Sasini, Cianda, Muhathi, Gatatha, Ngorongo, Gachoroba, Pelicans, Karirana and Mambrokie tea estates.

From Runda to Kiambu town, the stretch is owned by less than 10 people but at the middle, there is Githogoro slums which harbours thousands of poor families who work in the farms.

From Kiambu town to Banana, there is Ibonia and Kiamara coffee farms, which are at the middle of thousands of poor families from Ngegu, Turitu and Kangonya. Other farms are  Wamiki, Risura, Muhugu, Manila, Ndudu, Feran, Kibara and Kinuthia farms. There is also Del Monte in Thika.

Senator Kimani Wamatangi says it is unfortunate Kiambu is ranked among the wealthiest counties. He says Kiambu has suffered immensely due to the narrative, adding that its large population explains the number of people living in poverty.

The county has in the recent past changed from tea and coffee aroma to a concrete jungle and Wamatangi says most of the investors are not Kiambu natives.

“We have people who are going without food. Sometimes we are denied relief food or other aids just because it’s said we are rich, which is very untrue,” Wamatangi says.

He has been running Wamatangi Foundation for the past seven years, which deals with less fortunate, residents and he says Kiambu has a bigger percentage require humanitarian aid to their poverty status.