RE.Luoland-learn from your mistakes: Honest response to Joram O. Ragem

From: William ODuor.

Joseph Alila,

Thank you for posting Yala Kijiji experiment.

In 2000 the global community adopted am ambitious eight Millennium Development Goals that aimed to promote human development and reduce poverty, hunger, and disease, in the poorest countries.

Seven years later, some developing regions and countries are making progress toward these goals, but in many categories measured, including food security, the situation in Africa is stagnant or worsening. According to latest statistics, over 200 million Africans now suffer from malnutrition. Policy choices and investments made now could substantially improve, or further worsen, the prospects for food security in Africa over the next two decades.

So far, a number of food security experts acknowledge the fact that subsistence and traditional African way of life as a big stumbling block to the realization of food security in Africa.

Other challenges facing African food security challenges include physical factors, such as climate, geography, and poor resource endowments; political factors, such as lack of sound governance, infrastructure, and public-private partnerships, and the need for political reform; and socioeconomic factors, such as HIV/AIDS, poverty, gender inequality and lack of empowerment of women, and low water availability.

I am of the opinion that a well thought out public-private partnerships is the key to food security and poverty evaluation not only in Luoland but Kenya as a whole. This is something very easy to come terms with and that needs no PhD in any discipline to understand.

The problem with some of our own people is simple, we are yet to fully grasp the pace of technology, world economy and globalization and how to raise our game to catch up with this pace. We are yet to fully comprehend the simple fact that Africa faces slow death due to Poverty, Poor infrastructure, HIV Infection etc. We must accept the simple fact that, we in Kenya and Luoland in particular have chronically poor resource endowments at both household and national level that investing individually isn't really a positive option.

Our regions are disadvantaged by the vagaries of climate and geography to massive droughts and floods to extreme remoteness. Many people still live 18th century lifestyles yet their relatives interact and taste the benefits of majimbo or decentralization for it to be understood better. On the other side, externally Africa is faced by unfavorable trade policies and the external debt burdens while internally, the lack of government investments in social services and infrastructure has hindered economic development, thus adding to mounting poverty levels.

With all these realities facing a common man in Dhiwa, Kano and Alego, why don't we try modern farming as a way of changing our fortunes.

You talk of not ready to mortgaging your home or whatever; who requested you to mortgage your home? let me tell you that already there are several meetings going on in Luoland and many things are being discussed. Diligent sons and daughters from the areas concerned are actively moving ahead with different plans. The Luos are tired of underdevelopment and poverty. The wise men and women of our time in our villages don’t' want it either. Many do agree that we have to change, and as I write, the transformation is real bwana Alila, it's happening.

This is a participatory process, no one will be robbed of his land as the colonialists did. Aren't you aware that grand children of Lord Delamere are farming peacefully and even killing Kenyans at will. Who gave them that vast land to farm on??? Wahindi are doing the same in Miwani and Kibos thanks to corrupt Unitary System which you support. In fact they buy an acre at 70,000 Ksh, maybe its high time you write something about this too.

A person of your standing knows far to well that Kenyan government can't subsidize land. They have money for Promissory notes but not for village infrastructure and village improvement. and this is under your best system of government, peace love and unity.

You talk of Kungu, locusts aphids and floods as if we live in the old age world. It's either we remain with the current situation where the natural calamities control our food production or move to hi-tec farming where locust and kungu will never be allowed to control our farmland.

Last but not least, I expected you to offer a good alternative and a way forward for developing our villages. I hate to read your negative comments, clan rivalry, anti majimbo, anti whatever being proposed. Please go ahead and show us the way forward, come up with an idea.

Thank you once more

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"I for one believe that if you give people a thorough understanding of what confronts them and the basic causes that produce it, they'll create their own program, and when the people create a program, you get action." MALCOM X