Major problems facing Kenya today

Kenya or the Republic of Kenya (named after Mount Kenya) is an East African country bordering the Republic of Tanzania to the South, the Republic of South Sudan to the North-west, the Republic of Ethiopia to the north, the Republic of Uganda to the west and the Republic of Somalia to the north-east. Kenya or the Republic of Kenya also lies on the equator with the Indian Ocean to its south-east.

The Republic of Kenya has a total land area of about 580,367 squared kilometers with a total population of about 41 million people with the population growth rate around 2.5%.

About 22% of the total population of Kenya live in urban cities such as Nairobi (the capital town of Kenya with a population of about 3.5 million people) and Mombassa ( a major city with a population of about 1 million people).

Kenya or the Republic of Kenya is one of the most culturally rich countries in Africa with a beautiful blend of several different cultures and ethnic groups living together. There are at least 40 different ethnic groups living in Kenya today with the Kikuyu being the dominant ethnic group forming about 22% of the total population. Others include Luhya 14%, Luo 13%, Kalenjin 12%, Kamba 11%, Kisii 6%, Meru 6%, etc.

Unlike in most other African countries, education including girl-child education is of great importance in Kenya with literacy rate around 85%. In other words, about 85% of the total Kenyan population above age 15 can at least read and write which is great compared to other African countries.

Kenya just like Tanzania and its other neighboring countries is blessed with abundance of natural resources such as limestone, soda ash, salt, gemstones, abundance of wildlife, zinc, diatomite, gypsum, hydropower, etc.

Despite the abundance of natural resources and the high literacy rate, Kenya like most other developing countries in Africa is crippled with so many problems both natural causes and man-created. Although literacy rate in Kenya is far better than in most other African countries, quality education is something hard to come by in Kenya today. So at the end of the day, most students graduate from school with degrees upon degrees but unable to apply what they've learned in school to help better their living conditions. Instead, most end up on the streets jobless with nothing at all to do. About 50% of the total Kenyan population lives below poverty line according to the new multidimensional poverty index with the unemployment rate around 40%.

Like in most African countries, about 75% of the total population of Kenya are subsistence farmers who grow crops and rear animals just to feed themselves and their families and in times of crops failure, most of these families go starving. The unpredictable climatic conditions in Kenya sometimes worsen the situation. From the tropical regions along the coast to the arid interior regions of Kenya, natural havocs such as recurring drought and unpredictable flooding during the rainy seasons sometimes put many rural families in nothing but absolute poverty.

Although youth education especially girl-child education is helping a lot in the breaking of the cycle of new HIV/AIDS infections in Kenya, about 1.5 million HIV/AIDS cases were recorded in 2009 with about 80,000 deaths in the same year.

Corruption and poor leadership are other major reasons why Kenya still wallows in poverty despite the abundance of natural resources. Corruption in Kenya has gotten so worse to the point where people on the streets consider corruption "normal" part of everyday life. Incompetent leadership and poor governance continue to tear Kenya into pieces.