Why does the gap between the rich and the poor grow bigger every year? Is it to be blamed entirely on the uncontrollable and invisible hand of demand and supply? I believe that a great contributor to this notorious gap is our growing stinginess. Market elements aside, we are an increasingly mean society.

We would rather invest in the rich person. We glance back and whistle admiringly at the passing of a sleek limousine, while we present frowned faces when confronted by a polite beggar. Few feel sorry for the poor, yet too many are moved by the rich.

If our leaders and the heights they are willing to scale to gain high office is anything to go by, we definitely have numerous and passionate champions of power. If we were to host a "power-pursuit award", the judges would have a difficult time in deciding the winner because of the high number of worthy contenders.

From person to profit

We are quite endowed with champions of power, but now, the Kenyan society desperately needs champions of the powerless. If you asked Kenyans to name champions of power, they would come up with several names without any hesitation. But ask them to name champions of the poor, and after much stalling, you would be fortunate to hear two or three names mentioned.

Even institutions founded with the noble aim of helping the poor most often cannot resist the temptation of making profit. They get involved with the corporate mainstream and end up distancing themselves from the same poor person they were initially formed to elevate. They then use their grassroots networks to advance not the poor but the institution. Their centre shifts from person to profit.

Even religious institutions - as witnessed in some churches, especially those espousing prosperity teachings - have been known to despise little offerings, dismissing such as shameful and unacceptable before the Creator. This implies, falsely of course, that poverty is a mark of little faith.

Offering surprising contrast, there are those who make a lot of money through what may be called fashionising poverty. This is specifically in reference to fashions especially targeted at urban youth that have a faded look, holes at the knees, are torn across the thighs and running at the hems. This is a deliberate work of art.

For youth from rich backgrounds, wearing these rags is an exotic experience they are willing to pay outrageous prices for. While some art critics view this fashion as brilliant, most other people have criticised it as a mockery of the poor.

If we perfect this attitude of only taking from the poor, then we create a culture where value is rooted, not in one's humanness, but in one's productivity. While this worldview may seem sensible, it is flawed.

Because just like one cannot get good fruit without first tending to the tree, one cannot attain real productivity from people without first affirming their fundamental reality as human beings. Making productivity most important diminishes one's humanness. And a community with people who have a diminished humanness will suffer.

One possible occurrence in such a community is that since attaining value is often elusive, people design shortcuts to the preferred state by working out ways of purchasing that preferred state in cash or kind. This purchase flourishes the practice of bribery leading to such events as unmerited promotions, exam leakages and even election rigging.

Another possible event in a dehumanised society is the formation of pockets of the populace who, their personhood corroded, retreat from life and subject themselves to destructive habits that affirm their worthlessness.

They dedicatedly resort to versions of substance abuse either to blind themselves from the harsh reality of poverty or to delude themselves into thinking they are in a utopia. Some of these retreating pockets may be characterised by a prevalence of suicide.

And when these destructive habits leak into the thread of a community's culture, they become very contagious and may grow to jaw-dropping extents, as has been recently reported in sections of Kilifi and Kirinyaga. This perceived worthlessness and poverty has given rise to entire generations being reduced to "dead men walking" with only a "miracle" remnant who survive the melee.

A third possible occurrence in this dehumanised community is that in anger and frustration, persons organise ways of seizing this preferred state of productivity forcefully.

Crime heightens, diversifies and continually evolves, a trend that is easily observed in our country today. These angry groups vent out their rage through acts of violence, strikes, sabotages and hostage situations as recently exemplified by the acts of the Mungiki sect and the prison warders who threatened to release prisoners unless their dehumanising conditions are addressed.

Luxurious resorts

While reality has it that poverty will always be with us and cannot be eradicated, the same reality has it that it can be minimised. From observation, our poverty reduction efforts have largely concentrated on creation and alignment of national institutions. The numerous poverty reduction forums have rightly come under criticism because they are held by rich executives in luxurious resorts with the poor present only by virtue of being the subject matter.

While the national strategy has its place, a community can begin to reduce the prevalence of poverty by individuals learning, embracing and practising prudent generosity. We need not rely on the national strategy and neglect this personal opportunity. We need to be generous in our implementation of poverty reduction strategies.

The West, already drowned in the selfish sea of individualism, views community as an exotic phenomenon. Many Westerners have a romantic view of Africa as a haven of community. But do we have community any more? We did, but long ago. Today, the sense of community is struggling for dear life in the hands of galloping capitalism.

There is need to rediscover and contextualise the faded African sense of care and hospitality. When a culture of prudent generosity settles in the hearts of individuals, we will see notable economic improvements right from households, extending to neighbourhoods and eventually lead to a community-oriented economy.

Buri Edward is a theologian and religious minister based in Nairobi.