Once again Kenya faces life-threatening famine in some parts of the country while others parts are enjoying a surplus of grain close to rotting. The Daily Nation reported January 13, that people and livestock have died in North Eastern parts of Eastern and the North. Ironically, farmers in the North Rift valley region have no market for their maize. One of the area members of parliament, Joshua Kutuny, indicated that their constituents are crushing maize and feeding it to animals. It therefore seems evident that it is a question of distribution.

The right to food and safe drinking water was an issue raised during Kenya’s Universal Periodic Review (UPR) in May 2010. Franciscans International, following reports from the Franciscan family in Kenya lobbied for improved distribution mechanisms. The said recommendation was made by Spain and adopted by the government of Kenya. Under recommendation 101.93 the government of Spain recommended that the government of Kenya should ensure the equitable distribution of water and food to the entire population, especially during times of drought. The government of Kenya duly accepted this recommendation.

Adopting this UPR recommendation and favored by early warning mechanisms, Kenya should not be reporting famine deaths. Yet despite all the warnings, the government of Kenya has again been caught unaware. It was after relief agencies asked the president to declare the famine a national disaster that the government formed a committee to tackle the looming famine in particularly pastoral areas.

There was, in the last two years improved food availability and access following largely above‐normal 2009 short rains (October to December) and generally favorable 2010 long rains (March to June). Famine Early Warning Systems (FEWS) network reported in November 2010 that improved availability had yielded in a drop in food assistance needs. Country‐wide, an estimated 1.2 million people required continued food and non‐food interventions to mitigate food insecurity, down from 1.6 million people in August 2010.

The FEWS network also reported that the food security status of an estimated 780,000 pastoralists, 140,000 agro‐pastoralists, and 310,000 marginal agricultural farm households was precarious. These families required continued food and non‐food interventions at least until the outcome of the then short‐rains season became clear. The rains did not last long and surely, just as had been predicted, the food security conditions in most of the eastern pastoral, southeastern, and coastal lowlands have continued to deteriorate.

The Ministry of Agriculture has advised farmers not to give up but to consider planting drought resistant crops. Yet statistics from the national Irrigation board indicate that Kenya has an irrigable potential of more than 600,000 hectares but less than 150,000 hectares have been developed. Amidst all this there are worries that the will to distribute food is lacking in flavor of importation that comes along with profits to some political players.