The 56 million who live, die poor in EAC

Dar es Salaam/Arusha. As East African leaders struggle with issues of isolation, integration, political federation, and numerous protocols, the majority of their people are languishing in abject poverty with 40 to 80 per cent of children from poverty stricken households dying before their fifth birthday.

This category has a combined population of 56 million people with an average income of a mere $226 (Sh372,900) a year – clearly not even sufficient enough to feed a family for one calendar month.

The poor, according to the ‘State of the East African Community’ report released last weekend, control about $12.7 billion of the East African region’s combined gross domestic product (GDP), which is a tiny 15 per cent of the total $83 billion for the five countries.

The poverty-stricken East Africans mostly live in rural areas or in the slums of major towns and cities. The lucky find work but only receive a wage that is below the poverty line.

They have no health insurance and their children face a 40 to 80 per cent higher chance of dying before their fifth birthday compared to their richer compatriots.

Those who survive are likely to be stunted. They attend schools lacking basic utilities such as power, water and sanitation and they are taught for only a quarter of the recommended time.

This combination of poor nutrition and negligible schooling leaves them unable to operate in East Africa’s modernising, service-oriented economy and guarantee that they will bequeath their poverty to their children and grandchildren.

The ‘East Africa’ they live in cannot even be compared to the war-torn states of Somalia or the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

This is the grim picture painted by the State of East African report titled, ‘One People, One Destiny: the future of inequality in East Africa’ compiled by Society for International Development (SID).

The reports says about 71 million or 50 per cent of the EAC region’s population earned $586 (Sh966,900), which in terms of money value could feed this group for hardly four months.

The group termed by the report has middle majority controls of about 50 per cent of the combined region’s GDP.

According to the 120-page report made available to The Citizen, there is a pervasive feeling that the economic conditions have worsened in the past five years in the region despite major discoveries of natural resources, especially natural gas, oil and minerals.