Kenyans have extremely cold hearts. If the images of children starving to death is unable to shake them off their obsession with who will or will not be president in 2012, nothing else will. Children, and elderly persons, the most vulnerable members of our society are dying of hunger. Many more, having trekked hundreds of kilometres from a dysfunctional Somalia, are dying at our border, the government having taken a firm stand against allowing in more refugees from that benighted country. International aid agencies are struggling to cope with the worst famine in 50 years in the Horn of Africa. So is the Government of Kenya, and stories of the outright theft of food aid by officials merely underscores the peril millions of Kenyans and Somalis face today.
Mohammed Farah Aideed understood the power of hunger and in his war with the other clans in Mogadishu, he ensured that he used it for his own ends. Mr Aideed controlled the aid flow in Somalia. Aid workers were killed in his internecine war and the Americans vowed never to send its troops to Somalia after the infamous Blackhawk Down incident. The dictum that he controls the food controls the people seems to be playing out in Kenya this year.
The transition from the former Constitution to the new one has seen every political player worth his salt take to the field with gusto. Prime Minister Odinga, the putative frontrunner, has the Gang of Seven nipping at his heels. He has used his office to highlight the plight of the starving masses in Northern Kenya to no avail. Meanwhile, the Government of Kenya has decided to permit the import of genetically modified foods as a solution for the famine, arguing that the grain stocks in the Strategic Grain Reserves have fallen so low and the season's harvest has been so poor that this drastic step is warranted. Whispers of rent-seeking among the members of the political class, men and women who are willing to make a killing ahead of the 2012 general elections, have been doing the rounds giving the lie that the decision to import GM maize has anything to do with the plight of the hungry and the dying.
Economists and social economists all agree that, in the twenty-first century, drought will occur but that there is no reason why famine should. Famine is a symptom that the government of the day cares more for its survival than the survival of its people. With the expansion of the railway system to all parts of the country, India has never suffered peace-time famine since 1919. In Kenya, twenty-four years of hegemonic KANU rule saw the national infrastructure (roads, railways and air transport) crumble and fall into disrepair, with the government of the day being the only institution with the capacity to reach all its citizens. KANU used this power to control the people of Kenya, controlling the distribution of grain in such a manner as to punish or reward its people. By also controlling the press, and the media, KANU and Moi shaped public opinion, denying Kenyans information and using their ignorance to cement Moi's grip on power.
To his credit, Mwai Kibaki has tried to undo in ten years what it took KANU forty years to build: an edifice of corruption and cronyism that has laid this country low and could be legitimately blamed for the violence of 2007/2008. Mr Kibaki is hostage to his past and it will be up to the next president to make a clean break with past, including using famine for political purposes. Our duty to our fellowman should not be tied to our political affiliations. We must embrace the idea that Kenya, for all its baggage, is a nation that can reach for the moon if all its citizens participate fully in its development. As a starting point, we must force our government, all three branches, to ensure that the starving masses are offered succour with no thought as to who will stand to benefit from the decision. If we cannot guarantee our brothers and sisters in the north food security then we are no better than the charlatans of the al Shabaab and al Qaeda that seek to destroy us.
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