Famous Italian economist Ferdinando Galliani once quipped that from manufacturing you
may expect the two greatest ills of humanity and slavery, to be healed
(Galliani 1770/1959), since the Narc Government took over the realms of power
from the second president of Kenya Mr.Moi way back in 2003 there has been
tremendous growth in infrastructure and real estate development is on the rise ,in the country despite the
political bickering embedded in any
political system which normally pits the capitalists against what ails the
common mans needs for those who
believe in Abraham Maslow motivational theory. Today we are living in country
where land that is meant for food cultivation and animal husbandry faces fierce
competition from those willing to set up property, Industries and
infrastructure without conducting proper
due diligence plans for posterity though Vision 2030 purports to address it.
Humanity is playing second fiddle to artificial demands created by economic
blocks that are driven by profits a system set up by the proponents of free
trade theory who are driven by self interests. In Kenya the expansive Rift
valley region often referred to as the food basket of the country you encounter
dairy and cereals farmers crying foul of low prices for their farm produce
which can be attributed to the global chain trade system of rich countries
subsidizing their farmers against the perfect market conditions prevalent in developing countries, the same applies to central, western and parts
of Nyanza province where hunger is not priority but finding market for their
farm produce is a puzzle , the Economic Stimulus package launched by then Minister
for Finance now head of state Uhuru Kenyatta in 2009 saw many farmers
diversify from crop to Fish Farming in order to boast their incomes following
the aftermath of 2007 post election Violence effects to cushion them against losses
economic but not against the Franz stangel effects.
Come
July 2011 the Kenya Red Cross society had raised a red flag that at least 3.75
Million Kenyans in arid and semi-arid lands especially in northern Kenya were
threatened with death due to the threat of starvation because of drought to the
contrary nature has conspired to bequeath this region with the black Gold.
Malnutrition rates in Northern Kenya were at emergency levels with more than
385,000 children below the age of 5 years in 13 districts suffering from acute
malnutrition. Furthermore, many schools without school-feeding programmes had
been closed. Other visible indicators included increased livestock deaths and
erosion of livelihood and survival options available to the affected
pastoralists. The worst affected districts included Wajir, Mandera, Marsabit,
Turkana, Moyale, Eastern Samburu, and Northern Isiolo although certain
districts in rain dependent Lower Eastern Region such as the northern parts of
Mwingi and Kitui districts and the Coastal Region, which had also sank into the
emergency phase classification of food insecurity. Further, at least 20 people
were reported to have lost their lives as a result of drought-related effects.
It was at this point that the Government declared drought a National Disaster.
This led to birth of local idea by the name Kenyans
for Kenya Initiative which saw Kenyans through the mobile payment solutions
MPESA and some of the leading corporate firms in the country led by telecoms
leader Safaricom raise charity funds close
to over $10 million dollars in a span of one month this goes to affirm that
synergies between public private sector partnerships can offer a lasting solution
to the health, Nutrition and other related problems that bedevil our economies,
it also demonstrates that Africa no longer needs aid but trade ,the initiative
is a living demonstration of how PPPS can transform a society, the
mid- to long-term plan for the initiative was to focus on integrated food
security, water and sanitation, and health with a specific objective of
ensuring resilience to the effects of drought for populations in Northern Kenya
and its already bearing fruits as result of constructing various dams, boreholes and the introduction
of irrigation in the so called ASAL areas is but a noble cue to be embraced .The new constitutional
dispensation heralds new era in Kenya’s quest for equality and equity in terms
of income distribution to the various devolved governments units who can take
advantage of the Kenya open data
government portal https://opendata.go.ke/ to enhance social justice prosperity inter
alia , however the fight against poverty will need more action in terms of
having more educated women, statistics have indicated that the more a woman is
educated, the less number of children she would bear – which the economy can
support , Vision
2030’s main aim is to transform Kenya into a newly industrializing,
middle-income country providing a high quality of life to all its citizens by
the year 2030, all in a clean and secure environment however as a society adopting a model similar to the Chinese model
or rather some western child policy
needs take into account the plight of the minority groups and future industrial
and economic needs this explains why cheap odd immigrant labour is rampant in the west against an ageing
populace. The level of unwanted pregnancies can be tamed by way of having more
women in classes and better equal employment opportunities; with a population
that injects over a million newborn babies annually against a GDP
per capita of $800 per annum it spells doom on the nation’s ability to achieve
the aforesaid vision as my grandmother once told me to share is to care but not
necessarily to bear the consequences of our neighbours actions.
No comments:
Post a Comment