Focus on ending gaping inequalities across Kenya

Shirley Poriot, a teacher at Nalekat Primary School, teaches pupils under a tree. [File, Standard]

A survey by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics has revealed serious inequalities across the counties that raise questions about the government's commitment to equitable distribution of national resources and whether county governments prioritise what is critical to their areas.

The 2025/26 Kenya Mini Demographic and Health Survey shows that a Kenyan's chances of surviving childbirth, accessing care and escaping poverty still depend on where s/he was born and how much schooling she received.

Women with no education average 5.4 children, compared with 2.7 among those with secondary education. Mandera records a fertility rate of 6.8 while Embu stands at 2.2. Facility deliveries range from 47 per cent in Garissa to 100 per cent in Nairobi, Nyandarua and Nyeri. Six counties, among them Busia, Kisumu and Siaya, carry a very high malaria burden. These disparities are not demographic accidents; they are the outcome of choices on where resources are sent.

The inequalities in education, however, are unacceptable if only because everything else in a country's journey to development hinges on education. Roads and affordable housing are vital, but they lose their value if the population they are meant to serve remains illiterate, unable to comprehend and maximise the economic potential of such initiatives.

One must ask why the disparity persists when primary and secondary education are supposedly free and compulsory. There have been complaints of unfair distribution of teachers that the Teachers Service Commission has failed to address. Insecurity and poor infrastructure in northern counties deny learners classrooms and a conducive environment for learning. Cultural mores that deny women education must be dealt with, as is the insecurity in the North that targets teachers from other regions of the country.

The bottom-up economic model should have addressed these disparities, but it failed. Usawa ni Sawa, which is essentially the same approach, must now be made to correct these irregularities, with emphasis on education, health and water services. Everything else is secondary. The State must direct resources to the neglected counties, and county governments must be held accountable for prioritising what is critical. Every Kenyan child deserves the same chance, regardless of county.