Lets talk food, food, more food and water.

One may ask so what should be the new government’s top priority? Should it be implementation of the Constitution, land reform, foreign policy or job creation? To answer this very important question, we can borrow a leaf from China. At the moment Kenya is rapidly looking east to attract investments, support an ambitious development agenda and seek good export market. Kenya is also looking east for Economic Bench marking against the Asian Tigers like Singapore. Kenya therefore has both lessons and insights it can learn from the East. Now let us focus on China as we explore an answer to the introductory question.

China’s rapid economic growth started with a clear economic blueprint just at Kenya has the Vision 2030. However, most interesting is the first problem China sought to solve in the 1980’s, it was food security. China wanted its population to be well fed. They invested in efficient large-scale agriculture. On the other hand despite having a well researched vision, majority of Kenyans are still struggling to meet their most basic needs, food (including water), shelter and affordable healthcare.

I therefore believe that the most pressing need is ensuring food security. If my belief must have the most popular phrase in Kenya today ‘Implementation of the Constitution’, then I will do exactly that. A clear policy on implementation of Article 43 on Economic and Social Rights should be our priority. Article 43 (1) (c) specifically provides that every person has the right to be free from hunger and to have adequate food of acceptable quality. It does not mean that we will not address other aspects of development e.g. Technological innovations but we should have a specific priority target – food and water.

If Kenyans are well fed, we are most likely going to address the issue of preventable and lifestyle diseases. We shall also address the problem of insecurity since poverty and lack of food contributes to people’s desperation and they therefore result to petty crimes just to put food on the table. Within weeks and months, petty crime grows to hard-core and organized crime and then we have a security nightmare. Once people are well fed, they will not think about how to put food on the table. Instead they will seek ways of being productive and to generate and implement ideas. Women in arid areas will no longer spend their entire lives with on their hands and children on their backs, looking for water. They will instead apply their mind to developing the lives of their families. In the same way children will not miss school to attend to the daily chore of fetching water, they will instead be well nourished to attend school and develop their minds and transform society.

Food security has been a thorn in Kenya’s fresh for years. It is time the National and County governments addresses this problem. County governments have a golden moment to transform various counties into food baskets if they invest heavily in agriculture. However it is not the role of government alone, government facilitates. Corporate can for instance invest in agriculture as part of their Corporate Social Investment. Various companies can also partner to implement an irrigation project in an arid area which will go a long way in transforming lives.

Despite the fact that the implementation of Article 43 rights should be progressive. The government should start making such progress towards providing accessible, affordable and quality food and water. I am sure this will help us have a more prosperous and stable nation.