Politics

It is the season of high politics, if there is something like that.

I feel that it is imperative as a minister to direct us to a few questions and expectations as we engage the political aspirants.

What is the purpose of politics? What is the end game for politicians?

Why do politicians always want to be called servant leaders, even servants of the people when they do absolutely NOTHING for the people they profess to serve?

You see, a servant leader is a person whose leadership is driven by the people he leads. It is a leadership dictated by the needs and aspirations of the people he leads. Simply speaking, his every thought and decision has his people at the very top.

That is why I have always said that Kenya has a very serious leadership vacuum. I am simply saying that we DO NOT HAVE leaders. And I will direct us to a very simple aspect of our lives.

Have you ever wondered how maize from Mexico makes our maize unsellable? Ever wondered why rice from a neighboring country is almost half the price of the one we produce? Why is rice all the way from Thailand and Pakistan cheaper than ours?

Why is sugar from the war-torn Sudan cheaper in than our country yet we have enough cane farmers and factories, factories that are on their knees?

Have you like me wondered why eggs from a neighboring country brings our poultry farming and business to their knees.

Do their chicken feed on soil and water to produce eggs?

Ever wondered why milk had to be stopped from being imported, and that because a big man runs the dairy industry?

It costs money to import, from transport to broker charges, even assuming that duty is not paid.

It is the answers to these questions that any leader should be seeking. It is the answer to these questions that any leader should be strategizing on.

Uganda’s cows do not produce cheaper milk because they drink from Lake Victoria to produce milk that is cheaper than ours.

And why is petroleum cheaper in Uganda yet the same passes through our port and land?

We always have leaders spending billions going for benchmarking trips around the world.

This is what those money guzzling trips should be doing, seeking answers for some of these questions.

I would want to know why a farmer a thousand miles away sells an egg to my neighbor cheaper than I can. I want to understand how someone would buy maize across the oceans, hire a ship and still sell maize cheaper than any sustainable price our farmers sell at.

But beyond that I would want to know how to deal with that to make it possible for me to sell my milk, maize, eggs, etc. to my neighbor because the price will make importation irrelevant.

But let me not just ask questions. Let me give an observation.

Do you realise that animal feeds in Kenya are up to six times their cost in Uganda?

Do our leaders and aspiring leaders know this?

Are they concerned about it?

Do they have a solution for it?

As we seek to elect leaders, will we engage them on such matters?

One is saying he will give the youth some monthly pittance, a pittance that will be inadequate to buy chicken feed for that month. Not forgetting the dependence the same develops.

That for me is an insult to hard working Kenyans.

Make farming viable. Make business easy to start and run. Make factories and industries easy to run by lowering the cost of power as an example.

In short ask them to give you to the solutions to the challenges facing you

Otherwise they are not servant leaders but noisemakers and conmen.

I haven’t rested my case, just taken a short break. I have just scratched just one aspect of or lives.

But I do not know when I will be back.