Monday, December 26, 2005
HOME COMING SEASON
After reconstituting the cabinet, it is now the season for homecoming. The ministers are planning homecoming parties to show the flag and the spoils of the last war. It matters little that people are dying of hunger. That is an unfortunate thing and an unwelcome diversion from the celebrations.
Why should people decide to go hungry so soon after eating all those oranges and bananas? Didn't we send delegation after delegation to the great chief at the state house pledging our loyalty. Didn't the great chief dish out all those districts, promised jobs, postings, lunch money and other handouts at these fuctions? How can you people be so ungrateful as to go hungry at this time.
The government is very busy celebrating Christmas as well as preparing for the new year. The whole cabinet has to keep the great chief company at the coast. Those people from the periphery of Kenya claiming to be hungry should wait until the government comes from recess. We even doubt whether you are true Kenyans. Didn't I hear you have cousins in Ethiopia, brothers in Somalia and uncles inEriteria. And you, don't your grandfathers live in the Sudan? How can you claim to be Kenyans so soon after refusing to eat bananas.
This is the attitude the government has taken. We have to wait untill all the maize is collected into the Cereal Board depots before we dish it out. Death can wait. We have to wait until we appoint a commission to assess the situation on the ground before we release the food. We have to wait until the rest of the world comes to our aid, before we open our own stores. Talk about a ministry of special programmes. Talk about strategic food reserves. Talk about planning.
This time and age no Kenyan should ever be going hungry, set aside dying of hunger. Only in Kenya will you spend billions on dead end constitution review and not a penny on alleviating hunger. Only in Kenya will you spend millions to buy loyalty from an inflated cabinet and not a penny to institute water programs in the arid area. Only in Kenya will you receive aid to finance HIV/AIDS projects and still hold nearly a billion shillings unutilised in the bank while death continues to devastate the population. Only in Kenya where helicopters will criss cross the country campaigning and non will be available to visit the dead and dying from famine. Only in Kenya will we condemn those who highlight the plight of the hungry as enemies of development. Only in Kenya will it be famine when the president says.
Let us get out of the culture of dependence on foreign benevolence. Let us for once lead the way and feed our own. Open the graneries. Get the army off those barracks. Send them to distribute the food to those communities dying out there. Let's give human life higher premium. Let us address the issue of famine alleviation in the long term. The bottom line is our ability to combat adverse weather. It is a known fact to all but the government that in the dry areas water conservation is paramount. We have lake Turkana which hitherto has no agricultural utilization. Why can't we look at irrigation using this lake? or Baringo or Victoria. You talk about cost? well we can raise almost a billion shillings in the next 24 months without affecting our current budgetary allocation. How you ask. Simple. Reduce the current cabinet by half.
Why should people decide to go hungry so soon after eating all those oranges and bananas? Didn't we send delegation after delegation to the great chief at the state house pledging our loyalty. Didn't the great chief dish out all those districts, promised jobs, postings, lunch money and other handouts at these fuctions? How can you people be so ungrateful as to go hungry at this time.
The government is very busy celebrating Christmas as well as preparing for the new year. The whole cabinet has to keep the great chief company at the coast. Those people from the periphery of Kenya claiming to be hungry should wait until the government comes from recess. We even doubt whether you are true Kenyans. Didn't I hear you have cousins in Ethiopia, brothers in Somalia and uncles inEriteria. And you, don't your grandfathers live in the Sudan? How can you claim to be Kenyans so soon after refusing to eat bananas.
This is the attitude the government has taken. We have to wait untill all the maize is collected into the Cereal Board depots before we dish it out. Death can wait. We have to wait until we appoint a commission to assess the situation on the ground before we release the food. We have to wait until the rest of the world comes to our aid, before we open our own stores. Talk about a ministry of special programmes. Talk about strategic food reserves. Talk about planning.
This time and age no Kenyan should ever be going hungry, set aside dying of hunger. Only in Kenya will you spend billions on dead end constitution review and not a penny on alleviating hunger. Only in Kenya will you spend millions to buy loyalty from an inflated cabinet and not a penny to institute water programs in the arid area. Only in Kenya will you receive aid to finance HIV/AIDS projects and still hold nearly a billion shillings unutilised in the bank while death continues to devastate the population. Only in Kenya where helicopters will criss cross the country campaigning and non will be available to visit the dead and dying from famine. Only in Kenya will we condemn those who highlight the plight of the hungry as enemies of development. Only in Kenya will it be famine when the president says.
Let us get out of the culture of dependence on foreign benevolence. Let us for once lead the way and feed our own. Open the graneries. Get the army off those barracks. Send them to distribute the food to those communities dying out there. Let's give human life higher premium. Let us address the issue of famine alleviation in the long term. The bottom line is our ability to combat adverse weather. It is a known fact to all but the government that in the dry areas water conservation is paramount. We have lake Turkana which hitherto has no agricultural utilization. Why can't we look at irrigation using this lake? or Baringo or Victoria. You talk about cost? well we can raise almost a billion shillings in the next 24 months without affecting our current budgetary allocation. How you ask. Simple. Reduce the current cabinet by half.
