Kenya Prime Minister Raila Odinga
Kenya has asked the international community for $406 million in food aid, but they aren't receiving a friendly response.
At the outset that may seem cruel, but in reality much of this isn't related to the asserted drought, but by terrible planning and corruption within the country. No one wants to throw money or corn at a situation that will not do what it was meant to do.
For example, Prime Minister Raila Odinga deliberately blocked plans to expand the storage facilities for grain in the country, although he's in denial on it making things worse.
Terrible Kenyan policies like forcing farmers to sell grain only to the government, along with "targeted price controls," according to U.S. Ambassador Michael Ranneberger, have been significant factors in the alleged food crisis. Ranneberger added that it possibly could have been the impetus behind reports of corruption as well.
The problem is Kenya must get rid of its terrible policies, and from there develop more grain storage capacity in order to handle what may be sent to them.
Reports that some people have been selling large amounts of corn to nearby countries has also been acknowledged, although it's difficult to ascertain whether it's because of greed alone, or lack of storage is driving their actions. It's probably a little bit of both.
The bottom line is, how can countries send millions worth of aid in difficult economic times like these, when there's no guarantee it'll reach the people it was meant to help?
No comments:
Post a Comment