How food crisis named Ouru may sink President’s re-election bid

A staff at Uchumi Supermarket in Mombasa restocks packets of the government's Sh90 2kg maize flour on June 10, 2017. Most retail shops in residential areas decry lack of the commodity. PHOTO | WACHIRA MWANGI | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • Coming in the middle of an election campaign, it is the kind of compliment that Mr Kenyatta would rather do without.
  • The situation got even worse with media pictures capturing disappointed customers staring at empty shelves in supermarkets.

Calamity, ironically, has a way of bringing out the witty side of folks back in my village.

From the tales of people pulling out all tricks in the bag to cope with a widespread misfortune to its naming after some public figure or event, conversations about it can get weirdly hilarious.

In a past column, I wrote about Miguna Miguna the weed, so named because of its choking effect on the maize crop on a large scale.

MIGUNA MIGUNA
The emergence of the notorious weed followed the very public falling out between Miguna Miguna, an aide to then Prime Minister Raila Odinga, and his boss.

If you remember, the battle of two Joshuas culminated in Mr Miguna (who dropped his Christian name at some stage) authoring a tell-it-all book in which he had some very unflattering things to say about Mr Odinga (who has adopted the nickname Joshua in his current campaign for the presidency).

Well, Miguna Miguna the weed is still making a nuisance of itself on some farms the last time I checked.

MAIZE FLOUR
But it has since been displaced from its top position on the list of popular village tales by another menace.

During my last visit two weeks ago, I spared time to walk into a neighbour’s homestead to say “jambo” and stumbled on the latest gem.

It was lunch hour and, as part of the usual pleasantries, I asked the lady of the house in Dholuo if she had prepared some food for us.

“Ouru olayo e kendo (Ouru has made the cooking jiko wet),” she retorted.

SHORTAGE
I knew immediately that the current food crisis, marked by a severe shortage of maize flour and high prices of other basic items, has been named after President Uhuru Kenyatta in this part of the country.

With the effects of the shortage of the staple felt virtually everywhere, it is highly likely that many more Kenyans see the President’s shadow in their cold kitchens.

Coming in the middle of an election campaign, it is the kind of compliment that Mr Kenyatta would rather do without.

IMPORTED MAIZE
A few weeks ago, chest-thumping Jubilee politicians declared they would not allow the food crisis to be a campaign agenda after the government announced the pending arrival of grain imports from Mexico and a deal with millers to supply unga at subsidised retail prices.

Of course the GoK-branded Sh90 two-kilo packet of maize flour was stocked in some shops for a few days after a smiling Minister for Agriculture and a grinning representative of the maize milling cartel posed with it for the cameras.

NO UNGA

But the situation got even worse this past week, with media pictures capturing disappointed customers staring at empty shelves in Nairobi supermarkets and stampedes at some shops in Nyeri and Kisumu.

Not only does the food crisis remain a campaign agenda, it also threatens Mr Kenyatta’s re-election bid.

[email protected] @otienootieno