Stop unga politics, poor Kenyans are suffering

Food shortage has been a major cause of uprisings and revolutions all over the world. It might be bread, rice or in our case the staple ugali.

In the recent past we have seen opposition leaders and activists leading street demonstrations over the rising cost of living occasioned by the soaring prices of basic commodities especially unga.

It took Sri Lanka just this kind of scenario to oust the government, with disenchantment demonstrators taking over the presidential residence feasting and enjoying creature comforts they could hardly afford.

The Sri Lanka uprising was not without precedent.

With rice being the staple food for most Sri Lankans, the government shot itself in the foot by banning the use of chemical fertilizers in preference for organic ones.

This erratic policy caught many rice farmers unawares and in so doing most abandoned rice farming, leading to a shortage of this staple.

The last straw came when the government resorted to cheap rice imports, further impoverishing the local farmers.

As they say, the rest is history.

Coming closer home, our staple ugali has been the most common meal consumed from rural to urban areas and its foolhardy for any leader to delude themselves that Kenyans can change their eating habits and feed on other foodstuffs.

Granted, in the days of yore there were plenty of tubers and grains that people could supplement their food reserves with.

Not anymore. Actually getting tubers like potatoes, cassava and arrow roots especially in the urban areas is a wild dream and if available, the price is so high compared to maize flour.

That’s why the government must take the bull by the horns and address the unga price issue before the bubble bursts.

Many Kenyans would not mind whether the maize from which they get their flour is produced locally or imported.

What most are yearning for is food of reasonable quality and price.

However, we should not misconstrue this to mean that our farmers should be left at wits end.

In fact right now the dialogue should be whether we have enough maize stocks and if not, how much we can import to fill the deficit.

Kenya is well known for harbouring crafty cartels who will foment artificial shortages of commodities so that they can make a kill through cheap imports.

The maize sector is one key sector that has been the milk cow for these cartels and it’s upon the leaders concerned to ensure that they don’t rear their ugly head in the current food crisis.

Secondly though ours is a free market economy the local maize farmers also need to be motivated by getting reasonable prices for their farm produce.

Right now chances are there are farmers hoarding maize stocks in regions such as Rift Valley due to the poor prices being offered by the government while in other parts of the country, people are going hungry.

This should not be so. It’s high time the government takes the bull by the horns before push comes to shove.