United States America---Hard up For Food?

The world's wealthiest country is currently facing a  food deficit unprecedented  in many years of the super power's history.

One out of  four  families are on food stamps, a situation that  will in all likelihood go down to President Obama's  challenge box ,and an additional string on the bow of his detractors as well.He might  now  be forced to rethink the country's food policy,and rightly so,in the interest of the American people.

But  on  a broader perspective,this situation is not so much about America.Rather,it is about Third World countries that are so often dependent on  food aid.

If  the CNN  fox pop undertaken  recently is anything to go by,Americans are not going to continue  devoting much of  their  food  in  aid while their own citizens have not enough food to eat.They can only do so if there is a surplus,which is not the case now.In this  situation,countries must now brace themselves to meet their own citizen's food requirements in a sustainable way.

Africa--for the bulk of the countries  belong here--must now set both  long-term and short-term  measures in place  aimed at ensuring that the situation is mitigated.We are a continent endowed with all sorts of resources,ranging from minerals to fertile soils and favorable weather for agriculture.Yet every year colossal sums of money is spent on importing food.

There are many success stories that our leaders can emulate ,Egypt for instance,so we can change from relying on rain-fed agriculture to  sustainable agriculture through properly organized  irrigation.

For how long shall we catch a cold when  the Big Brother sneezes?We have all the means to feed our people.The trouble is that we are not willing in the least!

ODM's Catch 22 Political Situation

Since the 2007-2009 disputed  general election  that culminated in violence and the loss of over 800 lives and scores uprooted from their homes,the name 'The Hague' has been held in fear by Kenya's political elite ,and in admiration by the public.The country's justice system is full of holes.So the crafty politician(there are many here)  who led  the 2007 mayhem in any way was expected to get away with his callous role in the electoral aftermath.


Most of the suspects implicated in Justice Philip Waki's now both famous and infamous envelope,are actually  holding key positions in the current coalition government that was   midwifed by Koffi Annan among other imminent persons in 2009.Justice Waki was asked to investigate the perpetrators of the violence.

Once he was done,he fowarded the names of the culpable people to Mwai Kibaki(President Of Kenya) and dispatched a copy to Koffi Annan.It is expected that they (the suspects)will face justice owing to the confidence exuded by chief prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo on his recent tour of the country.This is known.What is still unclear is when?

Early this year,Mr Ocampo  issued hints of the names in Waki's envelope.Newspapers  tried to link the hints and to some extent Kenyans have a vague idea of who might be indicted in the International Criminal Court(ICC).

This week, one of them(Mr William Ruto),in a move that has since sent shock waves particularly  in the Orange Democratic  Movement (ODM),started out of Nairobi to The Hague.According to him,he  seeks to set the record straight on the
issue.

Might he spill the beans and land many in trouble?Or was Raila's decision to  distance himself from him a political misstep?It is every politicians worry here currently.

Granted,he was a sworn friend of Prime Minister,Raila Odinga whose ODM has been mentioned in connection to the violence by such erstwhile friends as Isaac Ruto of ODM.
Has ODM been caught in an intricate situation?Well,time will tell.