Kenya: Political Parties Blame Govt over Famine and Drought Situation
By Zachary Ochieng
NAIROBI---A political parties’ forum has today blamed the government for failing to take adequate measures to mitigate the effects of drought and famine currently rampant in various parts of the country.
“Despite the warning given by the meteorological department last year, it is disappointing that the government took no measures to mitigate drought. This has caused untold suffering to our citizens including hunger, starvation and death”, the parties said in a statement read at a news conference at Nairobi’s Serena Hotel.
According to the parties, the country has enough supplies of food but there is no political will to buy and distribute food to the areas that are worst affected by drought. They urged the government to change tack if the perennial food shortages in some parts of the country are to be addressed once and for all.
The parties further expressed concern over the government’s continued importation of expensive maize at the expense of local farmers.
“This has the effect of exporting jobs, depleting our meager foreign exchange reserves and discouraging our farmers. We urge that henceforth the government should buy local produce first before engaging in foreign purchases. We believe that corruption may be the key motivator for this”, the statement said.
Expressing their solidarity with the Kenyans for Kenya initiative, the parties urged for the adoption of long term solutions to food shortages. These should include adoption of proper farming methods, irrigation, marketing, storage and distribution.
They castigated the government for sacking two chiefs in Turkana who reported incidents of death from starvation. The parties asked for immediate reinstatement of the sacked officers.
The political parties ‘forum meets once a month to discuss topical issues facing the country. Today’s forum was convened under the auspices of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to discuss the effects of drought and famine.