Hunger is gripping Kenyans on the eve of the general elections, and after Nairobi and Mombasa, stocks of maize flour are also arriving in Malindi. Certainly not enough stocks for the needy population, which the government of outgoing President Uhuru Kenyatta promised a fortnight ago at the capped price of Kes 100.
This is more or less a 50 per cent discount compared to the figures that had been seen immediately after the blockade of wheat exports by Russia and Ukraine, who were involved in the war in the role of aggressor and aggressed.
Long queues were seen in Malindi on Thursday when the first trucks arrived from the north in the afternoon. It was enough to walk outside the main supermarkets and local gas stations to realise who were the Kenyans who lined up in the hope of being able to save a good part of their few possessions. Some will perhaps go back to eating the classic dish of ugali, maize porridge with garden herbs, at least once a day. For those who still have a vegetable garden, otherwise it is another battle at the market to find the local varieties of mchicha, sukuma wiki, mnavu at acceptable prices, not to mention tomatoes for the sauce. Also because there is not only the economic crisis, the post-pandemic effect and the war in Ukraine, but also the great drought that has burnt fields and killed livestock. For those who had not sold their fields and animals before.
As has already happened in the capital Nairobi, the foodstuffs made available by the government through an agreement with the producers will evaporate in a few days, despite the obligation not to exceed four two-kg parcels per person. Then it will be back to waiting for a new special offer, or for a president who will do what he promised in the election campaign: think of his people and make the life of the deprived classes less like a circle of Dante's hell.