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Go and buy that maize from the television.\u201d\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u0026#13;\n\t\tRachel, a community organizer in Mathare, a Nairobi slum, laughs as she remembers this response from a local trader when she tried to buy maize flour \u2013 \u003Cem\u003Eunga\u003C\/em\u003E in Kiswahili \u2013 at the subsidized prices \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=A_dNdb6TkBs\u0022\u003Ethe government promised\u003C\/a\u003E in May. The subsidies aimed to reduce the price of one of Kenya\u2019s main food staples that have skyrocketed since January. But subsidies were paid to the millers, and not the vendors directly, and the vendors were only instructed to lower prices. Many vendors have simply refused to sell at the government price, leaving voters hungry and frustrated in the build up to the August election.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u0026#13;\n\t\tRachel worries that spiraling food prices are leaving young people vulnerable to local politicians\u2019 manipulations. \u201cThe only jobs available in Mathare nowadays are with the campaigns,\u201d she said. Here, \u201cworking with a campaign\u201d\u2019 can be as benign as putting up posters - or as nefarious as joining a militia group. In Mathare, she says, for as little as 200 Kenyan shillings ($2) a day, unemployed young people are sometimes paid to disrupt opponents\u2019 rallies, deface posters, and intimidate opponents\u2019 supporters. Hunger in the context of a hotly contested election doesn\u2019t bode well for Mathare and other urban informal settlements.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u0026#13;\n\t\tThe \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.fews.net\/\u0022\u003EFamine Early Warning Network\u003C\/a\u003E is reporting \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.foodsecurityportal.org\/kenya\/food-security-report-prepared-kenya-agricultural-research-institute\u0022\u003E\u201catypical food security risks\u003C\/a\u003E\u201d in Kenya in 2017, and that more than 60 percent of the country will be at risk of famine from June to September \u2013 the election period. In some of the affected areas, deadly clashes over access to food and grazing land have already occurred. Some of the herders involved in ongoing land invasions in \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.the-star.co.ke\/news\/2017\/05\/31\/suspected-pokot-bandits-shoot-two-kprs-in-laikipia-nature-conservancy_c1571572\u0022\u003ELaikipia in which tens have died\u003C\/a\u003E have said that they are \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-africa-38866389\u0022\u003Edriven by the ongoing drought\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u0026#13;\n\t\tTraders in Lodwar, northwestern Kenya, told us that \u003Cem\u003Eunga\u003C\/em\u003E has completely disappeared from the store shelves. As the drought kicks in, many herders have moved to South Sudan and Uganda in search of pasture. Some young men without their own permanent herds have come from the parched countryside to town, hoping for work. But, yet again, one of the few ways to get food these days is with a political campaign.\u003C\/p\u003E\u0026#13;\n\u0026#13;\n\t\u003Cp\u003EAgriculture is the single largest sector of the Kenyan economy, and the government estimates it contributes to 24 percent of the country\u2019s gross domestic product, and more than \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.feedthefuture.gov\/country\/kenya\u0022\u003E75 percent of the country\u2019s population\u003C\/a\u003E relies on agriculture and related activities for their livelihoods. Arguably, failure to properly implement food security projects constitutes a violation of a right to food in the context of such dependence. The Kenya government is obliged to work toward the progressive realization of the right to food and water \u201cby all appropriate means\u201d and \u201cto the maximum of its available resources. As campaigns continue, hunger shouldn\u2019t be manipulated to political advantage.\u003C\/p\u003E\u0026#13;\n\u003C\/div\u003E\u0026#13;\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n\n \n\n \n \n\n \n \n\u003C\/div\u003E\n","settings":null}]