A derelict food policy that has been in existence for the past 30 years needs to be reviewed in order to deal with the food insecurity issues in Kenya. In many instances, the less privileged urban populace that reside in the informal settlement areas, are usually the hardest hit by hunger and especially during the drought periods.

Mr. Grace Nyonyintono Lubaale a Research Partner in Urban Planning and Urban Poverty at the Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex, says that there is a thin protection between hunger and Nairobi’s urban poor in times of food price volatility.

Having been a researcher in poverty issues for some time now, he notes that approximately 500 million of Africa’s population is urban out of which 200 million live in the Sub- Saharan region with 160 million of them being susceptible to hunger challenges in view of the effects of global economic decline.

He however, says that the urban poor have been neglected for long time and most of the research done normally concentrates on the rural poor. populace.

The poverty index reports show that 52% of Kenya’s population lives under less than a dollar per day. With inflation rates skyrocketing from 6% in 2010 to 20% in 2012, the urban poor are bound to feel the effects of such changes. Official statistics indicate that unemployment stands at 40% currently but perhaps the numbers could be higher and the number of people still living below the poverty line high. Corruption indicators show that Kenya is very close to one at 148/180. This simply means that it is very corrupt; close to perfecting corruption.

“Current food policy interventions are geared towards the rural population forgetting that the urban poor are also hard hit. Policy research has just begun to explore hunger and protection in the urban areas. It is sad to note that Kenya’s food policy is derelict as it was put in place 30 years ago. To be able to deal effectively with food and nutrition issues, it needs to be reviewed,” states Lubaale

After the 2009 global economic recession, Mr. Lubaale was selected to be among a fact finding team that would conduct research and gather evidence on how the recession had hit the urban poor.

“Many countries were hard hit by the recession. Destabilised fuel prices shot up so high that people were unable to cope. This was just one year after Obama became the president. What we saw in the media was mostly how the people in the Western countries were affected; Many lost their mortgages as they were unable to service them and we were supposed to find out how Africa’s urban poor were also affected,” he states.

At least half of Kenya’s population is considered to be poor as they live on less than a dollar per day. Half of Kenya’s urban poor are found in Nairobi. However, most of the research done on poverty tends to focus in the rural areas and forgetting the urban populace.

“Kenya lacks statistics on the impact of hunger and how the most vulnerable ones during these times survive and what could and should be done for them to have decent livelihoods. There is need for more people to consider taking up that responsibility. The drought experienced recently ought to be a wake-up call to the government to ensure that the 30 year old food policy document is reviewed,” notes Lubaale.

He says that the national safety nets in the Ethiopian region are making headway in trying to combat some of these challenges and that it should act a guide for the rest of the Horn of Africa countries to follow suit as it will in a way act as a social protection among the urban poor.

Malawi is one country that has taken up the challenge of coming up with a food policy document as 3 years ago they drafted a food and nutrition policy which has seen it make strides in the area of agriculture in a bid to combat food and nutrition issues in their country.

A glance at Kenya’s poverty trends indicate that over the past 30 years, very little has changed. Infact, the rate of urban poverty has been increasing gradually. In 1981 Kenya’s population categorised as poor was 46.8%. In 1992-46.3%, 1994-46.8%, 1997-52.3%, in 2003 -54% while in 2012, it stood at 52%. The rural population as of 2012,- 53% was categorised as poor while 51% of the urbanites was categorised as poor. The urban poor and rural poor being seen to be sailing in the same boat.

Lubaale’s field team has been working in the informal settlement areas and specifically in Mukuru where he says that poverty is at unprecedented levels and most of the times the people are unable to afford the basic necessities.

In 2009 I kg of Maize meal flour cost Shs. 84. In 2010 Shs 56, In 2011 Shs. 70 and 2012, Shs.120.  Other basic necessities like cooking fat are measured in small quantities that could cost as low as Sh. 10 salt. Every time one wished to help themselves, they are required to pay a certain amount of money.

“If one has 6 children who require to visit the bathrooms from time to time, imagine the cost to this family. This is what has led to the high number of “flying toilets” where people help themselves in plastic paper bags and throw them anywhere in the informal settlement areas,” states Lubaale.

When food prices go up, people will resort to doing anything in order to survive. For the informal settlement areas and other poor neighbourhoods, many have resorted to vices like prostitution and other criminal activities that include terrorising the rich people.

“Corruption, poor governance, violence – Post Election Violence that discontinued many people’s livelihoods – as well as greedy politicians who only care to increase their salaries are some of the reasons that the people in the informal settlement areas feel are the causes for the high food prices. From where some of you are sited, it may be difficult to understand why someone would resort to prostitution in order to feed themselves. In the informal settlement areas, a mother who has many mouths to feed will not let her children starve as she would rather resort to prostitution,” says Lubaale.

Some of the research done in a Focus Group Discussions in these areas reveal a lot of sad statistics but it brings to fore vital issues that society needs to deal with before they go out of hand. The residents in these areas in a bid to fight hunger resort to ways that need to be checked.

“I was shocked to learn that young boys are being sold to an Asian industrialist for sex. There is a broker who does all that work and destroys the lives of these young boys. In the urban poor populations, witchcraft is also widespread. One goes to witchdoctor to put a spell on their neighbour for reasons only best known to them. Others have resorted to criminal activities in order to fight hunger,” says Lubaale.

He wonders why Nairobi being one of the richest cities in Africa, 70% of its population is poor.

“Recently when there was food crisis in the country, the government responded by giving 9 bags of maize and 5 cans of cooking oil to the Chief in Mukuru to distribute to the over 300,000 residents. One wonders how far 9 bags of maize can go to address the situation. For a person to even get their share, maybe it will depend on how connected they are to even access the chief,” he notes.

The roles of the various institutions in the informal settlement areas have been dissected. The churches and mosques which essentially might be seen as the best places to get help during the drought do not come in handy.

“Churches especially in the informal settlement areas which have the highest get per capita income, tend to forget the community during such times. Some say that they do not have donors and thus cannot possibly help. Most of them give support only to members of their congregations. The mosques have also been put on the spot as they tend to only give assistance to the Muslims and the members of the community are crying foul,” states Lubaale.

Educational institutions however, have been lauded for their efforts as they sponsor children to continue with their education as well as provide nutritional supplements and healthcare services to them.

An institution like Matter Hospital which was founded by the Catholic missionaries has been lauded to some extent as it provides health care advice to People Living With HIV/AIDS. They sometimes help to transport to the hospital very sick members of the community, especially those who are bedridden as well as paying rent for the vulnerable members of the community.

He notes that the most relevant institutions that seem to be very effective in the informal settlement areas are the “informal units”.  “The men have also come up and started their own groups – the Merry-Go-Round groups – that seek to empower them financially. Women have been doing this for a long time,” he says.

He notes that the urban poor have become the 6^th cats in Nairobi where they are seen as having gotten used to their situation and this he says is unacceptable.

He was speaking at the Growing the Harvest Conference at the Jumuiya center in Limuru.

Fiona Imbali,

OAIC Communications.