It’s a dog’s life for cows in Kenya

It was too good to be true; the Government trooping to the arid patches of the land to deliver aid. It was a study in contrast —chubby Government functionaries, bathed, perfumed and well-fed mixing it with their tired, hungry and desperate dusty subjects.

And they brought goodies — water, grain and the promise of buying bony emaciated cattle at Sh8,000 a head. Looking at the state and general body condition of those livestock, one wondered whether they were really fit for human consumption. But it was not an issue for the Government functionaries — they don’t buy their meat at Burma.