In the glare of cameras a nation is shocked by the pictures of emaciated, hungry and dying fellow human beings, a Famine in Kenya that strips away the lives and livelihoods of a once vibrant and healthy people. An emaciated child with no energy to cry with a lifeless body spread on the scorched earth in helpless stupor. A picture replicated en mass, with both adults and the children not spared.

Famine in Kenya especially in the Eastern and North Eastern region is now seen as the worst ever in decades. The Kenya government has persistently failed to tackle and or provide strategies to mitigate drought either deliberately or ignorantly due to selfish struggles. Despite the weather man giving an early warning in January nothing seems to have been done to avert the food crisis.

The State response on Famine in Kenya really annoying

In a weekly briefing, Dr Alfred Mutua who is the Government spokesperson said that the Government had released Sh 10 billion through various ministries. He said that the Government will work with all institutions and organizations like the Red Cross, World Food Programme and UNICEF to open feeding centers in Somalia, where security is assured by the Somali Transitional Government and African Peace Keeping Force.

While Famine in Kenya is taking a dangerous toll, the Government Spokesperson annoyed most of us when he categorically stated that the Government has no information or knowledge about people dying of hunger in the drought stricken areas.

The government admitted that there is a flow of over 2,000 refugees per week, which he said was not manageable, since most of them were sickly. This appeared to be complicating efforts of salvaging Famine in Kenya.

Turkana County is faced with starvation with about 50 percent of the population affected by the effects of Famine in Kenya. This is according to North Rift deputy Provincial Commissioner Mr. Wilson Anyange.

Kenyans4Kenya initiative to avert the situation of Famine in Kenya

Famine in Kenya

Kenyans solidarity with one another is a noble humanitarian cause that seeks to aid those hard hit with Famine in Kenya and subsequently extend a message of unity.  Few minutes after the launch of the initiative dubbed Kenyans for Kenya, a spirited effort by ordinary citizens to contribute to the kitty to aid victims of Famine in Kenya started trickling in.

The response was humbling and overwhelming; it came from ordinary Kenyan citizens and from corporations regardless of their socio-ethnic or political affiliations. Social media has also played a very important role in raising awareness on the situation of Famine in Kenya.

Peter Odem, writing on the ‘Kenyans for Kenyans’ Facebook page said, “This is a day that I will enter in my memoir, I dream for a Kenya people united in every aspect that affects our society. We must not wait for disaster to strike to respond. We need to be proactive as opposed to reactive. However I must applaud every Kenyan who has gone out of the ordinary to touch a soul. I am greatly touched.”

Women and children have died in Malindi, Samburu, Turkana, Lodwar and many other places because of the situation of Famine in Kenya. We therefore need to mobilize resources including foodstuffs, medical and health services o that they may reach the affected regions. This is the right time to declare drought and Famine in Kenya a national disaster.

A Famine in Kenya that shames some regions with rotting food crops

What a shame and contrast that a people of one nation led by one spirit of nationhood live in two different worlds, one of scarcity and the other of plenty and yet they cannot supplement each other. Some media TV stations reported that a fertile Nyandarua County, farmers are watching helplessly as their cabbages and potatoes go to waste. This indeed should go down history as another wonder of Kenya.

At Njambini centre a stench of rotting cabbages is all over the environment. In fact the farmers are now forced to feed cows with the excess cabbage while Famine in Kenya is creeping with death on lives of hungry Kenyans elsewhere.

Other farmers in other areas claim that they overproduced potatoes which do not currently find buyers. We also witnessed sometime back the milk glut where the over production of milk sent thousands of tones of milk to the drain.

Famine in Kenya has opened the question if Kenya is really ready for disaster management or why is the government waiting to be pushed to react?