How government, politicians & media propel famine in Northern Kenya

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Somehow the recent drought phenomena that hit Northern Kenya was turned into a war between the government and the media with media taking hits of exaggeration and the government consistently being in denial of the reality.

All this politics and drama at the expense of weak and drained Kenyan citizens with nothing to drink and eat, so who failed who in this national tragedy?

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The irony of the drought having been predicted before is a starter. Matter of fact at the time, President Uhuru Kenyatta’s administration was steeped in a scandal over the irregular importation of maize, the country’s staple, which had flooded the market and precipitated losses among farmers. None of that maize, it seems, made it to where it was urgently needed.

In the decades since Kenya gained independence, folks in the marginalized and neglected northern regions have developed a depressing familiarity with drought and hunger.

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Although adequate information exists to predict and thus avoid food shortages, the government has eschewed forward planning in favor of emergency interventions once crises are underway.

Further, there has been little in the way of long-term measures to build resilience within communities or even to integrate the remote regions into the country’s food economy, which would allow surpluses in other areas to flow there.

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A high view over Maralal, a northern Kenya town with dirt roads

One study, for example, notes that poor infrastructure means transport costs account for nearly two-thirds of the cost of maize and that “maize moving from surplus to deficit regions is levied multiple local taxes for traversing different local government municipalities”.

Media, on the other hand, play a large role in decision making. According to Peter Hentze, reporting a famine causes risks.

There are five degrees of which famine is fifth he says.”An estimate is made of the category that applies on the basis of the information available. The sources include for example surveys of the number of malnourished children in a hospital and stories in the media. If you extrapolate this to a larger region, you could overestimate the seriousness of the situation”.

In the end, the real reason why people are starving in Northern Kenya has little to do with rain or climate change and everything to do with a government, politicians, and media that for decades have been indifferent to their plight

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