By Kenneth Marende

The prevailing scenario is in many respects worrisome. Ten million Kenyans do not have enough food to eat and are faced with the threat of starvation.

It is in fact on record that some have died of hunger. It is a shame that today we are distributing food to fellow Kenyans when much less endowed countries are exporting food to Kenya, yet our people are energetic and hardworking. There are people in Kenya so hungry that God cannot appear to them except through the form of maize.

It is our collective duty as Kenyans to do the bit that we can to contribute to the feeding and search for a lasting solution to the problem of food scarcity within our borders.

The most basic human right is the right to that quality of life that assures regular access to food. This right is enshrined in the Constitution, which we have sworn to uphold but often fail to. Ironically, there are others among us who cannot imagine what it means not to have enough to eat and to die of starvation. This actively demonstrates the undesirable economic disparity in our country that ought to be reversed.

The current crisis is not a temporary food insecurity problem, but the sudden worsening of a chronic problem that has been eating us up for decades. We all know where the rain started beating us. As elected leaders, we must tell the people the truth about some of our unsustainable land use systems which have systematically contributed to deforestation, land degradation, water mismanagement, environmental pollution and declining agricultural production at a time when our population is increasing.

Much as these are global problems we must work from our corner to change the trend. It is our responsibility as Kenyans to develop our country.