Looks like the space for the pitch bar is there. It's just not showing any content with the actual key information. There are various issues surrounding the functionality of the pitch bar, a lot of which will receive development attention sooner or later. I don't know how to get myself into the particular situation shown in your screenshot, but can you please try whether completely restoring the default GUI via the F4 function key fixes the issue? You can then start configuring the GUI again in the manner that you want to, and pay attention to whether there's any particular step that triggers the problem above.
Can something be done to give more contrast to the bars? Black on dark grey is quite hard to see on one of my screen (needs some contrast adjusting I guess).
Can I totally endorse John's comment about the colour of these bars? Even with a fully calibrated monitor it is very difficult to read the pitch names.
I'll pass on the complaint. Looks pretty reasonable to me, here on my monitor. I wouldn't have made this out to be a problem when working with the program. However, sounds like this is a pretty consistent issue on many monitors. So, we'll look into this.