The solution(s) to our current food crisis lies within our borders

The recent hikes in food prices in Kenya has taken a great toll on the meager incomes of the poor Kenyans yet, so far, no lasting solution has been found by the myriad of think-tanks occupying the top echelons of power in the country starting with the president an alma mater of LSE (London School of Economics). The poor performance of the Kenyan shilling against the world major currencies like the greenback and the Euro, hasn't helped the situation either.
Someone would tempted and correctly so to ask the question, where did we go wrong; when did the rains begin to beat us as a nations. I vividly remember when i was a kid, mum would take us to shags(reserve/upcountry) to visit my grandparents and when it was finally time to return back, we often came back loaded with quite a number of bags carrying different kinds of foodstuffs and of course the good-old chicken to cap it all up. Those are the days when there was surplus production from the farms with the stocks running past the following planting season. Those were also the days when on average, a family had a minimum of 5(five) hectares of land upon which both farming activities and the homestead co-existed harmoniously.
The planting season was also well known by all and sundry. I remember, grandma would start preparing the shamba (farm) around the month of March every year in readiness for the oncoming rains. The rains on their part did not disappoint as they arrived just as they were expected without delay in volume and intensity.
This scenario is no longer there. With the changes in climate regimes where areas that were previously cooler are now ovens of sorts, rainfall patterns are erratic and unreliable thus affecting the mental prediction of the farmers and their farming habits as well. This, coupled with the ever increasing population in virtually all areas of the country, has greatly affected the output from the agricultural sector at large. This huge increase in family numbers has meant that the small parcels of lands have been subdivided to the children with each getting a small portion to establish himself. This means that the land that previously produced food for the family and neighbors i.e. the surplus which was sold out, is no longer there. People who hitherto were net producers of goods have now become net consumers thus affecting the supply chain tremendously which obviously will have a negative impact on the balance between supply and demand. Most of these people have therefore been forced to change their lifestyles in order to cope and as a survival strategy by moving from rural to urban areas in search of a living.
This increase in demand has therefore meant that the price of basic commodities like flour and fuel has to go up to cope up with the pressure. This has a knock-on effect as the economists like to put it, since other sectors of the economy which are part of the production or supply chain are bound to be affected as well.
The government on its part is under constant and immense pressure to stem the tide of the increase in prices of basic commodities that affect the hoi polloi. Some can be achieved in the short run like declaring tax waivers to food importers, while others are beyond its control considering that Kenya is a net importer of goods and therefore its bound to be affected by any changes in the price of goods sold in the international market like oil.
As a country, we need to rethink our approach and strategy to the problems that affect us. Countries like China have been successful at tackling their challenges like the huge population through the one child policy, while economically, China is producing lots of goods and services at a cheaper cost which are able to compete effectively against the world majors producers of the same goods and services.
Kenya being mostly an agricultural economy with the knowledge economy slowly taking over, ought to go back to the drawing board and redesign its road map. The government should enact into law policies that will ensure that our agricultural lands are sustainably utilized by putting a cap on the minimum size of land that can have a title deed. Farmers should also be empowered through training in modern technology like green house technology and incentives like cheaper fertilizers and other farm inputs and a guaranteed market for their commodities. Infrastructure like roads and power will go a long way in opening up the area thus boosting the production and supply levels. This means that instead of exporting raw materials to other countries which eventually return back to us as finished products which are expensive, we as a country should begin to produce our own products that can compete effectively against other goods in the international market.
In conclusion, we also need to diversify our goods and services apart from the traditional cash crop products which can be affected by the ever changing weather patterns. We also need visionary leaders with ideas that can take our country forward, not mere politicians who hoard maize and petrol in order to gain from the price hikes thus subjecting the majority poor to more suffering.
These are our problems and they need our solutions.

How graft hurts the most innocent in the society

Granted, we all have the potential to be corrupt, in fact the bible itself clearly says that we are all born sinners but when all is said and done,  to be or not to be corrupt is a conscious choice that all of us have to make every day when we're presented with that alluring and tempting offer. Many people like shortcuts in life and that's why parents would bribe in order to secure admission for their son or daughter who never made the cut as far as the requisite qualification standards go. Many people serving the government in one way or the other had to part with a few or even a huge chunk of money in order to secure jobs in the civil service. Virtually all ministries are served by people who preferred using shortcuts at the alter of meritocracy to be where they are.
This cancer hasn't spared our military either. This organ our nation ought to be a uniting facet of the country but cases of people paying bribes to the join the disciplined forces have been reported over and over whenever there are countrywide recruitment. Justice also has been peddled to the highest bidder with those endowed with much resources, able to circumvent the due process by expediting their cases or blatantly influencing the verdict.  The tender processes in both public and private companies are nothing but a sham since the knowledge of who finally wins the contract is well known in advance.
All this has been driven by sheer greed and selfishness and the nature of the capitalist system where people believe and falsely so that, in order to succeed in this life, you have to do it at someone else's expense. Like many diseases, corruption eats into the fabric of our society with devastating consequences and sadly, its the innocent people who normally bear the greatest brunt.

• Corruption drives a real estate developer to use substandard materials in building both commercial and residential buildings and the end product is manifested through the myriad reported cases collapsed buildings that we've seen  in Kenya.
• Corruption in the judiciary leads to unfair and questionable judgement which amounts to a miscarriage in dispensing justice to both the accuser and the accused.
• Corruption in the civil service leads to the unequal dishing of jobs to certain communities leading to inefficiency in service delivery due to incompetent and laxity . 
• Corruption in the education system has continually denied people who hitherto have continued to enjoy the free primary education a chance to extricate themselves from the tentacles of poverty.
• Corruption in the health sector has led to the deaths and suffering of many poor patients as drugs meant for their treatment are stolen from the public hospitals and end up in clinics run by the same doctors operating in public hospitals.
• Corruption hasn't spared our churches either as some engage in false teachings targeting the believers' conscience and emotion while extorting their hard-earned cash in the name of planting seeds.

The list goes on and on, but when all is said and done, we are the ones who started this vice and we're the ones to put a stop to it. There's no magic bullet in sorting out this mess or an effective panacea; It starts with  me and you. All of us have to purposefully make concerted efforts in small and big ways alike, in order to slain this dragon.
It starts at home when parents take their responsibility by instilling good and positive moral values to their children through practical examples that'd inspire the younger generation to value hard work and integrity in everything they do and to embrace the spirit of giving back to the society. As one African proverb says, we were given two hands for a reason; One to take and the other to give. Lets all learn to give however small because that's the beginning of ending the spirit of greed which fuels corruption.

THE STRENGTH OF A WOMAN: Happy Mother's Day.

I just read a tweet from one of the many contributors in global debates as we mark the International Women's Day centenary that, women generally contribute some 66% of global labor, they earn some 11% income for that and only own a paltry 1% of property. I can't verify the authenticity of these figures but if we put aside the mathematical accuracies and statistical significance of these figures just for a second and just focus on the message behind the figures, it clearly represents the plight and struggles the  average woman has to contend with whether in Bangladesh, Nairobi, Reo de Genairo etc.
Women make up the largest share of the population in many countries, yet hitherto, they have been unable to moblise their numerical advantage to champion for their rights and the right of the girl child.
The society has continually given the womenfolk a raw deal and a second class citizen kind of position in different spheres of our lives be it in politics, education and even in religious circles. Women have been made to believe that they are never equal to their male counterparts and as such any efforts made towards tipping that balance or upsetting the status quo is perceived as outlandish at best or completely out of this world. In some traditional societies, challenging a male dominated sphere would be interpreted as challenging the culture and norms of such a society which are normally carefully guarded and in favor of men.
In education matters, given a choice between educating a girl child and/or educating a boy child, most parents would sacrifice a girl's education and future at the alter of the boy's. This trend has been seen in virtually all communities with a strong tie to their bequeathed culture and traditions. In countries like Afghanistan for instance, its an offence for a girl or  woman for that matter to walk alone outside without being accompanied by a male relative. This means therefore that, if one wants to even go to school, they must have some male figure accompanying them and if that doesn't happen then it means they'll have to stay at home and remain immobilized. Girls are also prohibited from going to school as this would "spoil" them. In Saudi Arabia, women are not allowed to drive vehicles while in Somalia its an offence for a woman to put on a brassier.
The same culture has been used to deny women ownership of property like land which has the immense power of extricating them from the tentacles of poverty and want through economic empowerment that would allow them access to small micro-finance loans for their development.
Politically, the nature of our politics so far has been so murky and controlled by a coterie of oligarchs forming impenetrable circles of influence which conspire to control power and only circulate it to members of the "club" most of whom are cronies and family members. Many political parties have denied women candidates certificates for running as candidates during elections in the guise that they lack popularity and are therefore a liability of sorts. Many women thus have been reduced to spectators with only the radicals getting crumbs in the form of direct nominations which reduce them to puppets since they lack the direct mandate from any jurisdiction. In some cultures, women are either forced to vote for their husbands preferred candidates or denied their suffrage all together. All these goes a long way is denying them that one voice at their disposal for electing the right leaders who understand their issues. The world is awash with exemplary political leaders like Liberia's Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Angela Merkel of Germany, the late Bhutto of Pakistan and Hillary R.Clinton who is currently US'Secretary of State. All these women & many others in business and science show us that even women have something valuable to offer.
The religious organisations haven't been left behind as far as undermining women is concerned. Many religious organizations adhere to doctrines that prohibit women from occupying certain positions of leadership or strictly coming up with the do's and don'ts as far as their dressing code is concerned. Others still segregate women by either telling them not to mingle with men or setting a aside a designated area where women can occupy while worshiping.
These are just some of the struggles and impediments women go through on a day to day basis. The dynamics vary depending on the environment where one is. But one thing that is clear is that the world cannot continue to ignore women any more. So much has changed with the evolution of the internet which spurred globalization thus enhancing information and knowledge exchange.
If the world wants to achieve the MDGs in the shortest time possible, i'd suggest we empower women. This can only be achieved when all of us work towards that same goal for synergy. It doesn't help much when only women from a certain corner of the world are liberated while the rest are left shackled. This has to be a concerted effort with great focus in countries where women suffer the most. Governments have to review their strategies and safeguard women's rights not only in their programmes but most vitally, ensuring that they are entrenched in their constitutions. Issues to deal with property ownership, maternal health, education for the girl child among many others, are key pillars that would empower women thus enabling them to also enjoy the opportunities that their male counterparts have enjoyed until now.
For this to succeed, there ought to be attitude change especially among men who have been accused of putting up these glass ceilings that impede women development. As the old adage goes, behind any successful man, there's a woman. In the same breadth, i'd coin my saying by noting that, behind any successful nation or mission, there's a woman.
Happy Mother's Day To All Women!