How effective is food distribution in Kenya during Covid-19?
The coronavirus pandemic has wreaked havoc globally. Characterized by dwindling economies and loss of lives in the hundreds of thousands, the world is literally on its knees at the moment. Barely a month before the coronavirus was declared a global pandemic; Kenya was grappling to contain the locust invasion in the country. The gory aftermath greatly affected food security in the country, and the confirmation of coronavirus in Kenya made the bad situation worse. Credence to Murphy’s Law that “whatever can go wrong, will go wrong.”
The current restrictions on movement, and closure of most facilities and enterprises — with the exception of essential services — has rendered many Kenyans jobless, while many others are feeling the wrenching effects of reduced, or lost income.
Social protection measures falling short
With vulnerable communities being hardest hit by the pandemic, county governments have stepped in to assuage the situation by providing food packages to identified families likely to suffer from hunger. Noble as this cause may be, it is not without its challenges.
At the Coast, some Muslim faithful in Mombasa have complained that the food being distributed by the county government was unfit for the holy month of Ramadhan.
Further inland, a food distribution exercise in Kibera went sour after two women died in a scrummage to secure rations for their families.
A wise person once said that necessity is the mother of invention. However, when a mother resorts to boiling stones in a desperate move to trick her children that food was being prepared, would we classify that as an invention or the frail kicks of a dying horse struggling to remain alive? Shared recently in the Kenyan media, this harrowing story is a classic example of being caught between a rock and a hard place, pun notably intended.
What I am curious to find out is whether the food distribution exercises are informed by accurate data. Mid last year, the government rolled out the Huduma Namba registration exercise; a data collection drive aimed at improving planning based on real data gathered from the ground.
Fast forward to a few months later, how does the Huduma Namba come into play in terms of identifying and reaching out to vulnerable persons? Is there a mechanism of cross-checking that the needy in society have been reached? How do we maintain and update a database of the food available vis-à-vis the required amount? Additionally, what checks and balances have been put in place to mitigate pilferage and avoid duplication of efforts?
In order to address the questions raised above, the use of Information Technology is essential in streamlining the food distribution exercise for transparency and better efficiency.
Written by Amanda Namayi
This article is part of Covid-19 Food/Future, an initiative under TMG ThinkTank for Sustainability’s SEWOH Lab project (https://www.tmg-thinktank.com/sewoh-lab). It aims at providing a unique and direct insight into the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic on national and local food systems. Also follow @CovidFoodFuture, our Video Diaries From Nairobi, and @TMG_think on Twitter. Funding for this initiative is provided by BMZ, the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development.
