Harrison Ikunda
5 May 2008
Nairobi — That Kenya and other African countries in general are faced with monstrous challenges associated with poverty is not in any doubt.
What is in doubt is whether these countries are aware that rising poverty is the greatest threat to their stability.
Recent events on the globe, where masses have protested against high and still rising food prices, should alarm policy-makers and the political elite. The protesters in far flung countries such as Mexico and Yemen, and closer home in Egypt, Mauritania, Sierra Leone, Mali and Senegal, have vividly been captured by the media.
With global energy consumption rising by the day, the demand for biofuels has meant that energy for machines is competing for foodstuff for human beings. This is made horrid by the fact that regions with vast potential for food production, such as in Africa, are themselves sufferers of perennial shortages, thanks to misguided policies.
Kenya is a good case study. The fact is that we cannot expand land. The other fact is that Kenya suffers a shortage of arable land. Poverty levels in Kenya are high. The other fact is that land is the ultimate resource and last resort in total means of production (no matter how inefficient) for many in poor regions.
This does not, however, imply that we don't have enough land to produce adequate food for the population and for export. Blame it still on the many horrid reasons that still bedevil Africa and the Third World in general.
If there are things that one should never play around with, especially in politics globally and locally, they are land and religion. The two can deflate a good nation or set it asunder altogether. Kenya has tasted what confused and skewed land issues can produce. A disputed presidential vote tallying quickly cascaded in exploding land grievances, which date to many years back. The result is that it is still naïve to assume that even reconciling warring communities will evaporate the issues.
And all this revolves around poverty. A poor nation is a step away from war. Poor people are potential fighters and warlords. And when you blend poverty and politics, the resultant mixture is potent war. Since it is difficult to expand land and even more difficult to have enough of it for everybody, it is prudent we explore alternative avenues that are better and more productive with potential for better returns. This then means better means of production and products with high value content. This leads to a case for exploitation of knowledge, science and technology.
Japan and South Korea have nothing much to talk about in terms of land or natural resources. However, their human resources have ensured that the two nations have conquered nations and household's the world over. It is time to change strategies and tactics. The move should be to high value production, coupled with mass production and export, with greater exploitation of the benefits of knowledge, science and technology.
With that, most people should move to urban areas where industries should be re-distributed across many of them and with efficient infrastructure. Anything short of this would mean more land chaos across the country.
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