The forsaken People
Kenya
has communities with different economic activities spread across the
country. The central region, Western and Nyanza regions, and a part of the Rift
Valley regions rely on subsistence or large-scale crop farming, whereas all other
regions, particularly the northern, parts of Rift Valley and upper Eastern,
rely on livestock keeping. Though there is change of rain pattern across the
country due to climate change, the impact is much severe on the livestock keepers’
regions, with people losing animals to the pangs of drought and disease, and
the pangs have now turned to the people, with a lack of food and water claiming
human lives.
Other
than the effects of nature, successive governments have purposefully
disregarded regional needs. The region was merely regarded as a buffer zone
between Kenya, Somalia, and Ethiopia during colonial times up until 1980.
Because of this, the populace they have had very little concept of democracy or
service delivery; all they know is that men in boats with guns are the
government; their word is the word of government as compared to the words of
colonial representatives; you cannot question their words and they called the
people "haramia”. Bullets blatantly killed animals while maiming or
killing people. Government policies turned a blind eye to the region after
independence. By dividing the nation into economic and non-economic areas,
Sessional Paper 10 of 1965 specifically ignored the region, article 133, states
that "to make the economy as a whole grow as fast as possible development
money should be invested where it would yield the largest increase in
output" expressly ignored the region.
Given
the government did not want to exploit livestock production or did not have the
capacity to identify natural resources such as oil or wind for exploitation the
policy particularly article 133 denied the region basic infrastructures and
facilities including roads, hospitals, water and sanitation, education and lack
of these has made the region loose children, women to illness in the name of
boosting economic growth with the produce from the said economic regions.
2010
constitution came as a blessing in disguise for the region the government it
sent hope to the region through constitutional provisions on equitable
representation leading to it got some more seats at national level while not
compared with other regions and at least some funds through devolved system. However,
the constitutional ray of hope is diminishing by day given the national
government has not seen necessary to implement article 204 of the constitution
on the equalization that would have helped in reduction of the problems through
supplementing the effort of the county government, to direct resources to the
region over and above the county allocations.
The
article tries to remedy the situation caused by different policies since
independent. it requires the government to pay one half per cent of all the
revenue collected by the national government each year calculated on the basis
of the most recent audited accounts of revenue received. The money deposited is
meant to provide basic services including water, roads, health facilities and
electricity to marginalized areas to the extent necessary to bring the quality
of those services in those areas to the level generally enjoyed by the rest of
the nation, so far as possible.
President
Uhuru attempted to implement the article through the establishment of a
committee with a secretariat during his final year in office, after the budget
was approved by Parliament. Nothing has been heard from or about them since
their appointment. In addition, he declared a national drought disaster and
allocated Ksh.2 billion in aid to the affected areas.
People
who were supposed to be lifted up to the level of other Kenyans by Article 204
are now facing death as a result of drought caused by a lack of rainfall over
two calendar years, which nailed on an already vulnerable region. Climate
change has made livestock farming impossible, and hunger and other related
diseases such as malnutrition are robbing them. From 1990 to the present, at
least one person has died as a result of hunger or something related to it in
every household.
Will
President Dr. William Samoi Ruto's government give Article 204 the attention it
deserves? We'll have to wait and see. While we wait, keep in mind that he
signed an executive order subsidizing fertilizer and that his speech at UNGA 77
was primarily about climate change and agriculture, excluding crop farming and
livestock farming. Mr. President, you have the authority to halt all
development projects and save the lives of Kenyans living in ASAL regions. At
the very least, make them feel important and that Kenya is not complete without
them.
Mr.
President I recently went to a remote area in Marsabit County known as Watiti
for work, but I ran out of energy. I saw malnourished men, women, and children
with sickening stories about how a lack of food, water, and healthcare has
rendered them all disabled and equalized the young and old. We were able to
rally local leaders for some food substance and rescue some for further
medication, including twins and their mother, with the help of well-wishers.
Mr. President, we lost one of the children to malnutrition while he was
receiving medication, and I wondered how many more are dying in the villages
without anyone knowledge.
Mr.
President Kenya, particularly the region in question with Ethiopia and Somalia,
is home to 70% of people experiencing extreme food insecurity; the current
droughts and their consequences may be worse than the 2011 drought, which
killed 260,000 people, or the worst since the 1990s; and, as I witnessed with
the child we lost, people have already begun to die. Around 4.3 million Kenyans
are suffering from the pangs and may become statistics of those who died.
Mr.
President The vulnerable members are being targeted by preys with food in the
name of aid with the condition that they convert to another religion for
support, which is completely against human rights, but remember that beggars do
not have a choice; for some of them, it is now conversion from one religion to
another or death. I besiege you on their behalf to suspend all operations and
save the lives of these communities.
Mr.
President, there is no other country called Kenya, and these Kenyans have no
other country or entity that can support them unconditionally except their
government; do not turn your back on them.
Ahmed Maalim
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