A bank executive’s Ksh475 million annual compensation package as CEO struck us as an eye-bulging illustration of excess. It exposes a crack in Kenya’s social contract that we must address as a society.

While ordinary Kenyans struggle with the rising cost of living, banking executives are earning Ksh1,000 every minute, creating a gulf that threatens the fabric of the nation.

The moral implications are unmistakable. As we report elsewhere in today’s edition, the executive’s earnings could establish 475 small businesses, each creating jobs and driving economic growth from the grassroots.

Instead, this wealth flows to a single individual, perpetuating a cycle where the already privileged accumulate more while opportunities for economic mobility remain scarce for millions.

This stark compensation disparity becomes even more disturbing when viewed alongside the banking sector’s predatory lending practices.

Kenya’s banks routinely charge borrowers interest rates exceeding 15 per cent, with some reaching astronomical levels that crush small businesses and individuals seeking capital.

These punitive rates are a primary driver of the sector’s record Ksh240 billion combined profits for Nairobi Securities Exchange-listed banks in 2024, essentially transferring wealth from struggling borrowers to already wealthy executives and shareholders.

Those profits represented a new record despite a tough economic environment.

The Constitution enshrines equality and human dignity as foundational values. When a single executive earns more in bonuses than most Kenyans will see in multiple lifetimes, we must question whether we are building the equitable society we aspire to be.

According to the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics, about 40 per cent of Kenyans lived below the national poverty line in 2024.

That represents over 20 million citizens. The food poverty rate was even higher, with about 32 per cent unable to afford basic food needs. Extreme poverty (living on less than $2.15 a day), affected around 26 per cent of the population.

The portrait of Kenya is there for anyone to see. We can continue enabling the concentration of wealth in a few hands while ordinary citizens bear the burden of high interest rates, or we can demand that financial institutions serve the greater public interest.

True prosperity requires lifting everyone, not just the wealthy.