https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2017/jun/02/drought-centre-stage-kenya-election-campaign-food-prices-rise
The severe drought affecting Kenya, which has driven up the cost of food and fuelled inflation, has become a key issue on the election campaign trail.
Food security has deteriorated since the end of 2016 and conditions remain dire in half of the country’s 47 counties. The situation has been exacerbated by the impact of climate change, and it is anticipated that some regions could reach emergency levels of need by September.
The price of maize flour, known as unga – the staple food for most of the population – has risen by 31%, milk by 12% and sugar by 21%. These increases drove up inflation to 11.5% in April, from a figure that was closer to 9% in February.
The supply of maize grain, meat and milk has declined, reducing consumption, particularly for women and children.
“Many families are making do with just one meal in a day,” said Siddharth Chatterjee, the UN resident coordinator for Kenya.
The UN development agency said that waterholes and rivers have dried up in some areas, leading to widespread crop failure and livestock depletion.
“In some counties in Kenya it is not only the prices that are biting but also availability, particularly of water. In some of the hardest hit areas, communities have had to move in search of water and pasture,” said Chatterjee.
The spiralling cost of basic commodities has taken centre stage in the campaign for elections on 8 August, with the opposition attacking President Uhuru Kenyatta’s record in office.
“In Kenyan politics, the electorate – who are majorly poor – don’t care about mega projects. They are concerned with the cost of living. Whoever is elected must convince Kenyans how they are going to tackle this,” said Hezron Ochiel, a Nairobi-based communications and governance expert.
“The opposition are using soaring food prices and the high cost of living to discredit the government. It has exposed the government as incapable of responding to its citizens’ plight.”
“The drought has become a major political issue,” said Alex Fielding, senior analyst at Max Security Solutions, a geopolitical risk consulting firm. “The opposition National Super Alliance led by Raila Odinga has deliberately tapped into public anger, to blame president Kenyatta for failing to plan, mitigate and respond to the effects of the drought. The government has responded by introducing subsidies and tariff-free imports on staple foods like milled corn.
“This is a potentially explosive political issue, and the opposition will clearly benefit from rising public anger directed at the Kenyatta government, whose leaders are already associated with corruption and lavish lifestyles. The image of the president and his entourage living in luxury while poor families go hungry is a political nightmare for the incumbent government, and something it will do everything in its power to counteract in a bid to remain in power.”
http://www.the-star.co.ke/news/2017/05/12/help-kenya-to-fight-drought_c1558749
After three years of drought and failed harvests, Kenya is in the grip of a national crisis.
All eyes are on the neighbouring Somalia and South Sudan — where the needs are indeed greater and more acute — but we must not forget the nearly 3 million Kenyans whose lives have been blighted by the extreme conditions.
Kenya has allocated US$128 million towards the national drought response effort, expanded social safety nets, and is working with the international community to mitigate the impacts of the drought on the most vulnerable.
But the US$166 million appeal launched by the UN and partners in March this year has raised a mere 18 per cent of its funding target, US$10.3 million of which from the UN’s own Central Emergency Response Fund.
If donors don’t step up funding immediately, millions of families in dire need will be left to fend for themselves. Half of all Kenyan counties have been directly affected by the drought.
Governments that respond to humanitarian needs must be rewarded with support, not penalised by an international community that looks the other way. This will only deepen the Horn of Africa’s humanitarian crisis.
Thousands of Kenyans are on the move — escaping thirst, hunger and disease. The number of people facing severe food insecurity — 2.6 million — has tripled in less than a year. Even more have trouble accessing clean water. Children are suffering from acute malnutrition and preventable diseases such diarrhoea, measles and cholera.
