It is time to get serious and address our food insecurity

The tragedy with us and this country is that for every issue of national importance that arises, we first politicise and trivialise it, then dismiss it as a non-issue regardless of the effect it has on our lives currently and in the future.

Trivialise it, then dismiss it as a non-issue regardless of the effect it has on our lives currently and in the future. politicise and trivialise it, then dismiss it as a non-issue regardless of the effect it has on our lives currently and in the future. That for every issue of national importance that arises, we first politicise and trivialise it, then dismiss it as a non-issue regardless of the effect it has on our lives currently and in the future.

Nothing demonstrates this better than the current debate about the state of the country’s food security. We have clouded this important matter and turned it into a political dispute. Politicians have hijacked the debate and are shouting themselves silly in rallies across the political divide. Instead of looking at the full picture about food security, we have stuck to the Mexico maize importation saga.

Having assumed a political angle, be sure that in the days to come it will be trivialised and dismissed. End of the story. We will wait for next year, same time, to cry out again about hunger. If anyone doubts this, take a walk down memory lane to the NYS looting. It took a political angle, with the Government claiming the Opposition was jealousy of its record. trivialised and dismissed. End of the story. We will wait for next year, same time, to cry out again about hunger. If anyone doubts this, take a walk down memory lane to the NYS looting. It took a political angle, with the Government claiming the Opposition was jealousy of its record.

Next, the President trivialised it by baptising the scam a challenge. He eventually dismissed it and the key suspects are now basking in political glory.baptising the scam a challenge. He eventually dismissed it and the key suspects are now basking in political glory.trivialised it by baptising the scam a challenge. He eventually dismissed it and the key suspects are now basking in political glory.

The hard questions that need to be raised and answers sought from the Government are being swept under the carpet. For instance, the Government should be put to task to explain what happened to the pledges its top leadership made about food security during the campaign for the last election.

The politicians promised that no Kenyan would die of hunger and that the cost of food would be low. It was only recently, with the elections fast approaching, that action was taken, which does not seem to be a long-term solution. We deserve to know, for instance, between SGR and food on the table, which is a priority for the people?

And while our energies and attention are fixed on the maize story, a deadly armyworm infestation has struck the traditional food basket regions. By the time we will be through making noise about Mexican maize, we might be surprised to find that all the maize fields have been wiped out. With reports emerging that indeed many farmers have maize in their granaries, one wonders what the future holds for them.

The last time I looked at Jubilee’s manifesto, it promised to low ensure cost of production and a ready market for the produce. It, therefore, baffles logic why we should import duty-free maize while farmers’ granaries are bursting with maize as they demand what they consider fair and reasonable pricescost of production and a ready market for the produce. It, therefore, baffles logic why we should import duty-free maize while farmers’ granaries are bursting with maize as they demand what they consider fair and reasonable prices