Sitting under the scorching midday sun along Nairobi’s Kimathi Street are Mary Wairimu and her two daughters, whose facials tell a tale of dire want, their compelling gaze appealing for a prompt rescue from the shackles of starvation that ravage their entire beings.
The mother, a middle-aged woman whose countenance doesn’t inspire much hope either, confirms that indeed the trio hasn’t eaten in over 24 hours. The begging bowl sitting on her lap contains Sh11 at this hour.
Sitting about five metres away from Ms Wairimu is 85-year-old Lucy Muthoni who faces the same harsh reality, only made worse by the fact that no cent has found its way into her bowl yet by this time.
“I don’t ask for much; I only pray to get enough for a meal to sustain myself to see the next day,” says the elderly Muthoni in a frail voice.
She has been sitting along the city verandas for 23 years — since 2001 — the resultant impact of what she painfully recollects was a domestic squabble with her now deceased husband, with whom she lived with in Kirinyaga County.
On a good day, she narrates, she will collect a sum of up to Sh200 which could sustain her for three days, while on the worst days, her bowl will remain empty till daylight gives way to nightfall.
But has it always been this way?
Harsh economic times
“When I first came to this life in 2001 there was quite a lot of money and people gave generously. I even managed to pay for a small rental stall in Mathare. That would be a luxury today because I spend my nights on these cold verandas,” she says in Kikuyu dialect.
A beggar along Kimathi Street in Nairobi on November 7, 2024.
Photo credit: Billy Ogada | Nation Media Group
In her assessment, the thinning donations could be a result of harsh economic times, a situation that has been further compounded by the increased adoption of mobile money especially by Kenyan urbanites who seldom have cash in their physical wallets.
“I don’t have a mobile phone and I’ve never owned one. Several passersby who express their intent to donate via mobile transactions have to skip as I don’t have a way to receive,” she says.
On her part, Ms Wairimu says she owns a mobile gadget through which pedestrians wire their donations, but is quick to lament that fortunes have changed over time since she found herself on the streets back in 2010.
At the start, she reminisces, her day-long sit-downs along the busy Nairobi streets would fetch her an average of between Sh1,000 and Sh1,500, but that has since been reduced to just about Sh400 to Sh500 on what she terms successful days.
A larger pie of the contributions, she notes, are those wired through her mobile number averaging Sh300 while cash collection amount to just about Sh150.
“I know a number of people would wish to donate but the money landscape has since changed and people no longer move around with cash. Others who wish to give via mobile transactions might not have the patience to spend their time in putting your number as many people on these streets appear to be in a rush,” she remarks.
On a narrow, dusty lane that branches off from the city’s Moi Avenue, David Kimathi has forged a mutually beneficial liaison with an M-Pesa mobile money agent, and directs anyone wishing to donate through the e-money platform to withdraw the funds from the said agent.
This, he observes, is however a rare occurrence as most people don’t appear keen to follow through the lengthy and time-consuming process.
“Mostly when I mention the withdrawal option, the would-be contributor simply walks away without mentioning a word. It is really frustrating but I don’t have a choice,” he says.
Sitting at the junction between Moi and Kenyatta avenues is Mercy Wambui who has had her fair taste of what she terms as donation fraud.
Beggars wait for traffic to build up along Uhuru Highway near Uhuru Park at the Kenyatta Avenue roundabout in Nairobi on March 18, 2021.
Photo credit: Diana Ngila | Nation Media Group
Ms Wambui explains that her mobile phone has been inactive for months after it broke down, and she only carries around her SIM card through which she asks well-wishers to channel their contributions.
“Oftentimes when I read out the mobile number, the person will read out my name as it appears before the transaction is completed, but once I switch on the SIM card on a borrowed handset in the evening, I can’t trace the contributions meaning the giver never completed the transaction,” laments the mother of two adding that cash donations have significantly dried up in modern times.
The popularity of mobile money has remained on the rise in recent years, driven by increased and enhanced network coverage by telcos, as well as the ease at which subscribers can send and receive money.
Latest data from the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) shows that overall mobile money subscriptions in the country grew to 39.8 million as of close of June this year up from 38 million in June last year, translating to a 77.3 mobile money penetration rate.
Safaricom’s M-Pesa platform dominates the e-money market with a 93.4 percent share followed by Airtel Money at 6.6 percent market share.
During the 12-month period that ended June this year, the volume of cash sent and received via mobile money platforms jumped 10.25 percent to Sh8.6 trillion, up from Sh7.8 trillion in the year that ended June 2023, according to data from the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK).
The number of mobile money accounts stood at 77.9 million in June this year compared to 76.99 million as of June last year, while the number of mobile money agents grew by 5,503 to hit 334,046.
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