The Kenyan government has welcomed Oxfam Kenya’s Status of Inequality in Kenya 2025 report, casting it as an important analytical intervention that reinforces its own argument for a bottom-up approach to economic planning. Officials suggested that the findings echo the Kenya Kwanza administration’s long-held view that years of top-down models have failed to correct deep structural inequities, and that a shift toward locally anchored, citizen-centred development is both necessary and overdue.
Speaking on behalf of Deputy President Kithure Kindiki at the report’s launch, Michael Loikenu Lenasalon, Principal Secretary for the State Department for Devolution, described the publication as “honest, constructive and essential to the national conversation.” He said the government sees the document not as a political indictment but as a policy tool that will help refine ongoing reforms.
“The inequalities we condemn today are shaping the opportunities of tomorrow,” PS Lenasalon said. “If we fail to act, we risk locking nearly half of our future generation into a cycle of poverty from birth.”
The report details persistent disparities — including extreme wealth concentration among a small elite, continued hardship for about 46 percent of the population, and gaps in healthcare, wages and social protection. Officials insist these indicators reinforce the logic behind the Bottom-Up Economic Transformation Agenda (BETA), the administration’s flagship programme that seeks to deepen inclusion by strengthening primary healthcare, expanding affordable housing, supporting MSMEs and widening social protection.
Government sources signalled that rather than disputing Oxfam’s findings, the Office of the Deputy President will subject the report to a full inter-ministerial analysis. This process, they said, will ensure its recommendations inform policy adjustments and budget priorities over the coming cycle. Three commitments were announced: a comprehensive technical review of the proposals; stronger partnerships with civil society, the private sector and development partners; and renewed momentum toward a more progressive tax architecture capable of funding quality public services.
For the administration, the report’s broad framing aligns with its critique of past economic planning — that growth was too often designed from the top, with limited feedback from communities and minimal impact on the lowest-income households. By contrast, officials argue that bottom-up strategies are better suited to narrowing disparities and expanding opportunity, particularly in sectors such as small enterprise, agriculture and community infrastructure.
PS Lenasalon closed the launch with an appeal for collective resolve, saying the value of the report lies not in its starkness but in the momentum it can generate. “Let this launch be remembered not for the truths it revealed, but for the resolve it ignited,” he said. “Let us build a Kenya where every child has a fair chance and every citizen can live a dignified life.”
