STATE OF THE NATION:ENVIRONMENT AND FOOD SECURITY

Space Summary

The Twitter Space STATE OF THE NATION:ENVIRONMENT AND FOOD SECURITY hosted by HillaryGondi. The Twitter space delved into the intricate relationship between environmental sustainability, food security, men's mental health, mentorship, and philanthropy. Discussions highlighted the significance of addressing these issues for community well-being and growth. From advocating for environmental consciousness to promoting mental health awareness and fostering leadership through mentorship, the speakers emphasized the interconnectedness of these topics in shaping a better future. The conversation resonated with themes of personal development, community support, and societal impact.

For more spaces, visit the Lifestyle page.

Questions

Q: Why is addressing environmental challenges essential for food security?
A: Environmental factors directly impact agricultural productivity and the availability of nutritious food.

Q: How can communities better support men's mental health?
A: Creating safe spaces for open conversations and promoting mental health awareness can address stigmas.

Q: What benefits does mentorship provide for individuals?
A: Mentors offer guidance, support, and valuable insights to help mentees navigate challenges and reach their potential.

Q: Why is philanthropy important for community development?
A: Philanthropic efforts tackle social issues, provide resources, and empower marginalized groups for sustainable progress.

Highlights

Time: 12:05:17
Environment Sustainability for Food Security Discussing strategies to combat environmental degradation and its impact on food production.

Time: 12:25:40
Men's Mental Health Awareness Highlighting the importance of destigmatizing mental health challenges faced by men.

Time: 12:40:55
Role of Mentorship in Community Development Exploring how mentorship programs shape the next generation of leaders and changemakers.

Key Takeaways

• Addressing environmental challenges is vital for ensuring food security and sustainability.
• Men's mental health needs more advocacy and support within communities.
• Mentorship plays a crucial role in nurturing future leaders and fostering personal growth.
• Philanthropy is instrumental in driving positive change and uplifting marginalized communities.

Behind the Mic

In Remembrance

May our children rest in peace. Ashes to ashes, dust to dust.

Freedom and Home

One Mandev. Hallelujah. Oh, my lord. Waiting for Mandela. My people, today I am free. I am free because you never forgot me. The day is coming when we will all be free. Free from hatred, free from fear, free from killing. You are young. You live to see the same. And if I don't live to see the day, you better believe it. I'll be there. This is my home, and I'm home to stay.

The State of the Nation Discussion

For your freedom. Get ready for your freedom. Yeah. Yeah. All right, guys, thank you so much for joining the conversation today. As we wait more people to come. I know, ten minutes time. We have ten minutes to go, but we've said that let us open it 20 minutes to time because many people usually miss Mike to talk, but usually we are trying in our platform to make sure that everybody is on board and also everybody at least have something to say by the end of the day. Thank you so much. Again, you can share the space as we see what is happening. Welcome on board. Today, we want to discuss the state of nation.

Agenda on Environment and Food Security

The main agenda today is about environment and food security. We have seen so many laws are being passed and so many things are being going forward. People are wondering what is happening today. We have so much, many expertise on environmental issues and also the food itself. And this one, basically, we are talking about health because without food, then our health is much. So one thing. So that's major focus. But we usually give some rules going forward. When you ask a mic, usually just mute your mic until we give you time to speak. Don't interrupt anybody. One, they're speaking. Number two, let us not attack anybody directly. Just, we are based issue space.

Guidelines for Speaking

We are talking of issues that is happening our country. We're talking about the things that is going on. We are not attacking an individual. We are talking about the issues that is happening there. So we don't like that. We don't go that way. No attacking anybody directly or talking about somebody. But we are talking. We are best issues space. Number three is that when you have something to say, we can write it down there, we can do it. And when we give you two, three, four minutes, five minutes, say three minutes a minute. So just follow that because many people, and when you hear somebody has said what you want to say, also, it is important to just give it a time.

Introductions and Participation

Now, let me see. But I've, but I've. Barath, why, how are you doing? Barraf, how are you? All right. Okay, go ahead. I can see. Open up. But I can't hear you or something. Again to say that you can use two languages, we have Swahili or English. So kamuko sounds like we are not using only English, but also we are to make Swahili. All right, Doctor Majuh. Good. Good evening. How are you doing today? Good evening, Larry. How are you? I'm good, bro. How are you doing? I'm fine, thank you. You are lost. You have said what I wanted to say.

Connecting the Conversation

So for that reason let me go quiet and I come back late. What are you planning that I've said? I've heard you saying there that just come and he will come up again. I wanted to greet people and you already greeted people. Thank you. I'm here. I'm here. Thank you so much, doctor Ari. We appreciate your time and presence all the time. Yeah, yeah. No worries. Thank you for the topic. It's a very healthy one and we hope to see some healthy contribution towards this agenda of today. Thank you. I hear you, bro. I hear you. Abdi, how are you doing? Good evening. How are you? Good afternoon. Thank you.

Health and Food Security

Good. I'm doing good. Hilary? Yes. How are you today? Good to hear. I will also be reading the question and comments afterwards. For those who can't hear, who can also not speak, they can put their questions and comments as we look at what is what the bottom economic approach on environment has been achieved, I think. Thank you. Yeah, yeah. That's what you're going to talk about. Esther Mudui. Esther Mudui. How are you doing? I am fine, thank you. How about you? I'm well. I'm well. Happy to see you.

Engagement and Participation

Happy to. I'm glad that you're here once again and you're hosting us. We appreciate. We really appreciate. Yeah. I'm also happy that you're here and to give your views on the topic today, Asante Sana Hillary, for this opportunity that you've been offering for us. What I understand. Bye. The state of the nation and especially for food, I would say it's really. It's really funny and at the same time, sorry for that. It's really funny. And at the same time we are crying because what we can see is really affecting everyone and especially the poor community. And I think I'm in that community of poor community.

Challenges of Food Security

What do I mean? This is what I mean. I might afford to buy my food, but if my mother, if my father, if my grandma, if my grandpa or those who are surrounding me as neighbors, they do not have food, then it becomes a state of worry. And what I mean by this is because we have a challenge with taxation of our own food. Bread has hit a higher price. A lot, a lot is ongoing. Let me talk of even the bill that is being brought on ndengu from combination. I'm a combination, and I know the importance of Ndengu. I mean, where are we heading as a country? This is just to say there's insecurity with area to do with food in these areas of maybe combination.

An Overview on Legislative Challenges

Because if Ndengu becomes a way, if you planned it, you have to pay for tax or you have to have a license, then combination is doomed. And I've said I might have food, but if my society or the people surrounding me, they do not have food, then I do not have food. That is just like, I'm going nowhere. So that's what I would put as my submissions for now on food security. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you so much. I appreciate you. Yeah, I appreciate that. Linda, I see you. Linda, how are you doing? Hi, good afternoon. Yeah. Can you hear very well.

Reflections on Environmental Sustainability

Okay, I'm glad I can talk now from my laptop. Good afternoon, everyone. This is Linda Stewart of Moto kitchen from Delaware. I guess my views on the environment and food security is I always like going back to the basics, where we have to start embracing our cultural values. So the moment we stop and deviate from the west, then, you know, it will make our lives easier. I hear you. I hear you, Abdi. Before I welcome Boni. Mwangi will greet us and I invited him to come here. Do you want to give open remarks? Yes, I will give an opening remarks.

Issues in Policy and Practice

Welcome Mongi, Bonnie. Hello, everyone, and thank you. Welcome to pressure point. I just want to. We want to hear, as Hilary said, your comments, your thoughts on this topic. It's two prongs, actually. One is environmental and another aspect is food security. So let me just guide a little bit this conversation on a paper. I would say the KK government has put forward a very comprehensive and ambitious plan to address Kenya environmental challenges. This is like, I will give an example, the goal of planting almost 15 billion trees, transitioning to renewable energy, improving waste management.

Commitment to Sustainable Development

These are indeed commendable and it aligns well with the best global practice of sustainable development. In terms of these ambitious plans, however, the reality on the ground tells a different story. While the plans are clear, the implementation has been inconsistent. In some cases completely contradictory to the stated goals. Let me highlight a few areas where these gaps between policy and practice is more evident. Like, this is the afforestation this is like planting of trees by 2030, 215 billion trees, like now. I think Bonnie will give us, if he has time, will also tell us, like there's 140 million that was spent on this tree planting process, that it's not even there.

Fund Management and Accountability

The money is not even accounted for. From the auditor general report. Okay. There is alarming low lack of follow up reports from various regions indicate that the survival rates of these trees are alarmingly low. You know, so all this has been there and there is an issue of climate change. There is an issue of pollution and waste management control. There is a community involvement. Actually, there is a court ruling on community participation on this. All this has not happened from food perspective. I would like us to look at the GMO, the various bills that are passed and how they impact our food security and the local community.

Raising Awareness

Having said that, I yield mother Mike, while the speakers come in and give us an update on these views. Thank you. Thank you so much, Abdi, for that. And I know, yeah, thank you for giving that bottom line on what is happening and the money that we are losing. We're going to talk a lot of things because when we talk about environment, food security, we saw that even there was some dams that were being in the last. And also I think the current regime, because being that the president, current president was talking about, he was the one who's implementing these projects and everything and we don't know what.

Impact on Community and Agriculture

And this could have helped the community to even have these dams so that they can have food, we can do irrigation and everything. And also we are seeing so many things, so many laws are coming in, like the nuts laws. I don't know whether you've read it, but I know many people have read it and gonna talk about these things. We are seeing so many losses coming up on food. You cannot plant some seeds unless it is approved. What is happening? You know, so it means that we are losing our originality or the original, because we see you go to the villages, you realize that even some maize, when people want to plant maize, they use wood, they can, some who cannot buy the seeds, they're using those one, they preserve those maize for a while and then they use them as seeds to plant.

Discussion on Agricultural Practices

But so it seems that by all these losses coming in, it means that those things cannot happen. When you use that seed, it is gone until another seed. If it is not approved, then we will not have to plant those seeds in our land. What is happening? These are the things that you want to discuss this afternoon, this morning, this, no matter the time that you are in Doctor Nyango. Before I welcome Bonnie. Doctor Nyango, how are you? How are you doing? Sorry. I'm doing well. Hilary, how are you? I'm well, bro. Good. Glad to be on board once again. To be able to look at the issue of environment and food security.

Prioritizing Issues

And I appreciate what the people here have already said before me. I'm glad to see Bonnie on the speaker panel. He's passionate about these and many other subjects. On matters affecting our country. I don't know what you would want me to say. For now, maybe just some opening remarks on the subject. Go ahead. Okay. Yeah. So, as it has been pointed out by one of the speakers earlier. We are in a country where we are not. We don't have a shortage of laws and policies. Actually, since 1999.

Environmental Management Laws

When the Environmental Management and Coordination act came into force. It's a very comprehensive law. Very comprehensively. Providing the institutional and legal framework. For environmental management in the country. And we have the noise and excessive vibration pollution control regulations of 2008. And now a lot has come on. Climate change and everything. So we have very many policies. We even have, I think, the Kenya environmental policy. And many international treaties that Kenya is part of. So, globally, from a global point of view.

Assessment of Current Policies

Even the current president has presented himself as somebody who is very strong in matters environment. But unfortunately, as the Gen Z say, upper qua ground. I think our environmental management remains very poor. One of the teething problems that we're still struggling with. Is even in solid waste management. Even in this city. I was just having my usual evening run. And the kind of garbage that you come across on the streets. You even wonder where we have policies and frameworks for managing such things.

Implementation Gaps

So we still have a great gap between implementation and policies. Unfortunately, we are passing many more. And the laws that are coming in now. Especially the ones you mentioned. That are touching on agriculture. And I was this morning doing a lot of research. On the background and the history of these legislations. Concerning plant and plant varieties and seeds. Yeah. And I realized that there has been a dedicated attempt to what they are saying to patent crops and crop varieties.

Patenting and Crop Varieties

Since around 1930 in the US. But people now tried to say that you can actually invent a crop. Before that, crops were naturally occurring things. And you could be able to grow indigenous seeds, exchange, grow. And regrow and regrow. But it reached a time when people went into this scientifically. And people went and started doing what they call you can invent a crop. And actually claim intellectual property rights to it. So that we need to borrow intellectual property rights from you to be able to grow your variety of crops.

Concerns Over Seed Sovereignty

And that did not kick off. It did not pick up for a very long time until sometimes in the 1990s, when now a lot of interest was revisited in that area. And that is where now we are seeing people coming up into the crop and crop varieties bill, that literally tends to tell you that somebody, the variety of crops that you grow can be traced to someone's intellectual property rights. So you don't have the right to grow. You can buy seeds, yes, you grow once, but you don't have the right if you grow it again.

Risks of GMO Dependence

It's like if you regrow your own seeds, you will be like in academia, we say plagiarizing because it's intellectual property rights that belong to somebody else. So we are seeing now that efforts coming into Kenya through those bills, the nuts and oils and all that. So that, and the danger is what people have called the seed sovereignty, being able to do the indigenous seeds and share them. And we also run the risk of if were to depend fully on seeds that are coming from elsewhere, we don't know what the motive behind this.

The Emerging GMO Debate

So even the issue of GMO's that has been a controversial subject can easily just go through, because you don't know what seeds you're consuming, you don't know why we're consuming them and all that. So I think there are issues that we really need to look into. But beyond that, our food security situation is still dying. Larry, are you people there? I can't hear you talking. Doctor Maju. Oh, sorry. Yeah. Okay. Okay. I can hear you, but let me wait for.

Concluding Remarks on Legislation

If. I will hear another speaker. Thank you, doctor. Yeah, thank you. So I was just concluding that let's look into these issues. What I know they've been talked about here and there, but we are doing this to raise awareness. And ultimately, these conversations need to reach the common Mwananchi, who does not know about things. Hillary mentioned mega projects that we've had from an engineering point of view. We've had mega dams that were meant to be able to work towards food security.

Mega Projects and Food Security

Most of them have stalled. I still long. I think we need to send Morar Kebaso to Galana Kulalu to update us of what happened to that brilliant project that Uhuru's regime came with. If it was implemented to the right, as was planned, I think Kenya would now be far away in terms of food security. So those are some of the issues that we really need to look into now that Kenyans are awakened to issues happening in our country.

Community Involvement and Legislation

We don't want to stay on the side like outsiders and just watch. We need to be part of everything that happens, every development project, every legislation that goes through parliament. We need to be sure. Now they are talking about Floka financing locally led climate action. And I know a lot of money is going into the counties on a program called Floka financing locally led climate action machina.

Financial Initiatives and Accountability

And there's a lot of money that is coming from out of the country to go and finance climate action in the counties. If there's an expert here, we should be able to hear what that program is all about and whether it has had impact in the counties. So thank you very much, Hilary. I think that's all I have to say for now. Thank you so much, doctor. I appreciate your presence and also your views on what has been happening and the corruption.

Welcoming Contributions

I want to welcome Bonnie. Bonnie Mwangi, my friend. How are you doing? I'm good. How are you? Can you guys hear me? Very well, bro. Awesome. Awesome. Yeah. Thank you. And thank you for coming. And also, what do you think? I've seen what you wrote and in conjunction with this, but also that one is very key in our topic. Yeah, yeah. So, I mean, let me introduce myself first, for those who don't know me. My name is Bodhi Mwangi.

Advocacy for Responsible Governance

I'm a US based kenyan economist and certified public accountant. My passion really lies in making sure that we have good, responsible governance, making sure we have people that understand what it means to be in public service. Right. And so dedicated myself over the last couple of months to especially holding our leaders accountable, because I feel like the gap that we have right now in our country is that our leaders know that the public doesn't pay attention to a lot of these things.

Debt Accountability and Economic State

If you really look at where we are right now as a country and where we've been over the last ten years, it's sad that we are where we are, but our media is not doing the job that it needs to do. Our institutions are not doing their jobs. Our parliament is not doing its job. And so you and I, we have to step up. And that's what I'm doing. If you think about. I don't know if a lot of people understand where we are as a country from a fiscal standpoint, right.

Fiscal Responsibility and Debt

Our country over the last ten years has taken about 9 trillion shillings in debt. So if you think about what this means, since independence until 2013, our country never had more than 2 trillion in debt for 50 years, never had more than 2 trillion in debt. You remember the kibaki years, right? We saw a lot of development in our country. If you ask most people whether they felt the development, they felt it.

Economic Developments Through The Years

I mean, you know, incomes were going up, standards of living were going up, people were seeing highways and another infrastructure. Think about what happened since 2013 to now, right? Our national debt has gone up by 450% during the same time. If you look at our growth as a country, it's a fraction of that 4.5% in ten years on average. So our debt is going up by four times the level of growth that we are seeing.

Financial Accountability

So then the question is, what's happening with this money, right? What is happening? And when you really start looking at what's happening with the money is when you. It makes sense where we are, right? So today, our government, every shilling that it collects, it has to put aside $0.60 just to cover interest. You think about what that means. If you had an income where you get paid 100,000 at the end of the month and you have to put aside 60,000 just to pay interest, imagine the chaos that you're going to have in the house.

Household Budgeting Challenges

You will never be able to pay your mortgage or rent. You're not going to be able to send your kids to school. You will never have anything saved for retirement, right? The same concept applies for our country. If you're spending 60% of our money to pay interest, when are you going to be able to pay your civil servants? When are you going to be able to pay teachers? What are you going to be able to invest in R and D and things that are going to be necessary to make our country competitive, right?

Current Economic Conundrum

And so when I look at how we spend this 9 trillion is really the saddest thing. You are seeing projects right now. The government is sitting, you look at one country, for example, you see a project that has costed 11 billion. Remember, this is not money that we have, because we, over the last ten years or so, we've never had a balanced budget. Everything that if you hear the government saying that you're going to invest in a project in your county is not done based, it's not money that we have.

Debt and Investment

They are going to grow and borrow that money. So you think of, I take, let's say one county that has 11 billion worth of projects that were starting 2017. We owe that 11 billion. We are paying interest on it and it's not getting completed. In most cases, these contracts are awarded to, you know, cronies of politicians. They go in, they either walk away with 100% of the process and don't do a damn thing. Or when they do work, when you look at the quality of what's being done, it's just shameful.

Public Accountability

And so I feel like we have to do our job in providing civic education, making sure that our people understand that politicians job is not just to show up around election with cameras in toll showing how they are distributing, you know, sanitary pads and water and stuff like that. Our leaders job is to make sure they are serving the kenyan people by being good stewards of our resources. And that's not happening. Just think about this. Every one of the data points that I use in my analysis is public information.

Importance of Civic Education

Your parliament has that information, the executive branch has that information, the media has that information, the EAcc has that information. And there's no interest. Nobody is looking at that. Right? You see these numbers that I post and they're all backed by evidence. You've never seen anybody dispute that because they know that those numbers are true. And what happened, as I report is true. Nobody's doing anything about it. So we citizens have to step up. And that's what I'm trying to do.

Encouraging Civic Engagement

I feel like we can have as many elections as we want. But if people do not understand how politicians are behaving with their money, how their money is being used and the situation that we are in, if people don't appreciate that, then we're always going to have this kind of issues that we have. So I want to urge all of you to look at yourself and ask you, based on your expertise, you experience, where can you add value? Right? What can you do to make sure that we save our country from this predicament that we have right now?

Call to Action

And again, thank you so much for the opportunity. Thank you so much, Bonnie Mwangi. And we really appreciate your time. And also, I think we talked, and also we're going to talk more details about all these deaths because those are the things that I know is affecting our country at the moment. And I know with your expertise and with your experience, I know you'll give more details on this. You have tried to give it. And when you follow Monmohangi, what he posted, and you'll see how things are happening, you'll see his details on the debts that even when Jiggy was talking about.

Introducing Ruby

I want to welcome Ruby and Ruby to introduce herself because she's one of the people who's very passionate about environmental. And that's when other one is, I know, is our area of expertise and let her give us our views on the same and also this topic. And Ruby, your open remarks. And also you can chime in and give more details about the topic of the day. Yeah, thank you so much, Hilary. Yeah, definitely. This is hi to everybody.

Interconnectedness of Issues

Thank you so much for coming to the space. I think one of the biggest issue, honestly, food and definitely that and everything is so interconnected that if we zero into one, we're going to see how they're all related and interconnected. So just to introduce myself, my name is Ruby. I'm a mom, I'm a passionate foodie. I have masters in environment and management. And it's something that I don't know if it was worth it because for me, I found out that basically environmental, global warming issue is very corny.

Challenges and Concerns

And it's something that's definitely meant to rob developing countries and that being Africa also. So in best to what's happening in Kenya right now, I think one thing that we have to look at, I questioned myself, how did we get here? You know, all of a sudden you see that houses are being demolished, the seed law, the livestock law. And I was like, did our president just wake up and just started making these rules? And so when I dig deep, I found out that, you know what, it's all connected.

Environmental Sustainability and Governance

The root comes to this. Environmental environment. Global warming. Environment and sustainability. So if you see that everything is written, environment and sustainability. Sustainability is a very vague thing. And people just always assume that sustainability should be a good thing and therefore should be accepted. And if you look at all the most of the documents that even when the president is speaking, he talks about environmental sustainability or global warming. So based on what I looked at, I mean, global warming issue, it started with the Kyoto protocol that was in Japan.

The Impact of Global Policies

And through that, it was introduced that countries should basically live below their means in terms of polluting the environment. And there comes with. And therefore, the developing world was being told, like, how are we going to not pollute at the same time maintain the living standards that we have? So they came up with something called the carbon credits that you guys all know about that's actually taking, almost taking over Africa right now because it's very twisted and it does not really serve the developing countries in my perspective.

Political Promises versus Reality

So in details, when I started looking at how we got here, I went into dig deep and I found out actually when the president was campaigning, he was campaigning on the bottom, something called the bottom up approach. And in this bottom up approach, he came up with, it's all online. And as Boniface was talking about is like, we have to really focus on. Let's look at the details. Sometimes it's just easy. Somebody once said that if you want to hide information, hide it in the box, because people don't really like to read.

Agricultural Development Strategy

So I was like, okay, this is where we go. So there's something he came up with called the agricultural, rural and urban development sector report. And this is a Kenya Vision 2030. And in this vision 2030, came up with something called the bottom up approach. And if you look at the document, it's about like 100 something document that he states everything. And if you look at this document, and I started like going line by line. And you look at everything that the president is doing. It's in this document, for example, the livestock law.

Future of Agricultural Policies

It states that, you know, it covers like four, no, five issues that it's really passionate about. It's. This is land and livestock and blue economy and fisheries, agriculture, and then land sector. So in this document, the bottom up approach, it calls it bidder, I think a bottom up development something. It basically states that it needs more land in order to able to meet the Kyoto protocol or the sustainability development, as they call it, of the world.

Need for Agricultural Land

And what is that? What does that mean? Yeah, it says that sustainable development goals. And to meet the sustainable development goals, according to the president, what it is trying to do is trying to zero in on the agriculture. And what does that mean? It means that allocating more land for the agriculture and also patenting, or rather giving this land to be farmed to private sector. When you talk about the. And that's where you see things like now the seed law is coming in and the livestock local.

Implications on Local Farmers

Because you talk like in this document, literally everything is going to be regulated. It comes to textile as well. As you guys know, the president also was talking about giving people seeds to plant cotton. So cotton based on like you want to do some kind of textile industry and stuff. If you read the document, it's really good on paper. But it's not really does not make sense if you go to the ground. Because this is an economy where there's no jobs and people are. Some people live on the land.

Challenges of Disengagement

Literally. Where I come from, I have a lot of our neighbors or in the community that literally depend on the land. They don't have anybody from overseas sending them money or another person working that they depend on. They depend on their land, like literally to eat, to farm, to get my indi and all that stuff. Like I would say maybe 80% of whatever they depend on. And so this in this one thing that I noticed that was really intriguing to me is if you look at this document, you find out that the president is actually talking about something, the landlord, which people are going to be moved.

Housing Development Policies

Like, it's talking about disintegrating something called the colonial village. What is colonial village? Colonial village. Are the Usago in our homes? And those Usago people are going to be relocated. And that's why you see is very active into this housing project. So people are going to be moved from the Oshago houses into some high rise, I don't know where, into some girlfriend somewhere. And I think, and I talked to, I used to, I talked. I think there's a time I had a conversation with a friend of mine from Ethiopia, and I think they did something like that in Ethiopia.

Lessons from Abroad

And it's. She told me that it was terrible because you find like a grandma being moved into an 8th floor, there's no window. I mean, there's window, there's no balcony, there's no elevator. They can't even go from up to down this thing. If you go through it's good on paper, but if you look at it does not serve it. It cannot be implemented in a country like Kenya. So when it comes to seeds, he is talking about partnering with the private sector. And who are those private sector people?

The Role of Private Sector

They are, of course, the bill Gates and the rest who are now regulating the seeds and stuff like that. So they are trying to move people away from being. Depending on the land to being moved, in the end, to completely depend on the government or, I don't know, depend on how are people gonna eat. You're literally going to depend on the government to give you food to eat. And everything is so connected, and that's where you see they're so pushing so much on the huduma number.

Future Risks

These are the things that you will use in order to get some handout from the government. And literally the government can decide to not give you food. Eventually that's going to be a disaster. Also, if you look at this document, you find something a livestock regulation industry, as you guys know that in Holland, they actually ended up killing all the cows, literally, because they believe that the cows poop or whatever is something that is contributing to global warming.

Impact of Global Standards

Well, you can do that in developing world, you know, or we are moving from like literally cows to food made in the lab, where now if you go to some places in Europe, you know, they find like someone is being lab made, beef is being lab made, and chicken like that. So it is something. And they think that this is all they advocate, that this is something that's going to benefit their global warming, when in reality it's just benefiting their few corporations.

Discussions on Edible Oils

Also, I was looking at the edible oils. And in this document, I will post it. I will post the link on my page if anybody want to, is interested or anybody has not had a hand on it. I myself haven't seen people really talking about it. And it's something that disturbs me because everything that the president was talking about during his campaign, this is the bottom up. And if you hear this bottom up, it makes sense on paper.

Surface Level Policies

And it's so superficial on paper, but on the ground you cannot implement it. And when we look at the sustainable development goals by the United nations, sustainable development goals is so superficial because they are talking about where the poverty is being eradicated, hunger is being eradicated completely, education is being promoted, peace and human rights. Like, when you look at that document and you read it, you just look.

Questions on Implementation

It is so. How can I say it? It's like paradise, you know, which is like the reality of it is kind of. Somebody would doubt, like, how is this even possible? And if they were serious about it, can they do something about the Maasai in Tanzania, for example, the Maasai in Tanzania being moved out of their land? Like, what about their rights? So the UN sometimes is something corporation used to kind of gain whatever they want to.

Concerns Over Priorities

And it's very biased. There's no way that the sustainable development goal is going to be achieved in a place like Kenya. And with these policies, okay, if you're moving people out of their land, what are you giving them? Jobs. There are no jobs. And yet you people, you see houses being demolished. And I. This, in this document, it states that, you know, people are going to be compensated and something like that.

Corruption and Land Issues

It's. Even in Kenya, it's tough. Based on the corruption that's going on, who is being compensated? Tribalism. We're going to, you know, people are just going to decide like, okay, you know what your land is sitting on? We want to take your land and you will have no say. And this one, it says mandatory evacuation. If you look at this document from the Kenyan Kwanzaa, it's called the Kenya Kwanzaa. Kenya Kwanzaa manifesto, or Kenya Kwanzaa sustainable Development Goals, it is a sham.

Participation and Future Outlook

So, I mean, I will add more into that if anybody want to add into whatever document that they've read or their perspective on this. And then I can maybe chip in later. Thank you. Wow. Wow. Thank you so much, Ruby, for giving us that details. You know, it is so funny. And today you opened. Many people are here because I think many people have gone through that document, but they don't look it the way you are looking at it. And amazingly, you're saying that people will be chasing from their lands.

Policy Scrutiny and Public Awareness

What are they doing with this land? And also this policy. The documents look so nice, but in deeply, it is not what we are reading and what we are seeing. You'll post that and you'll share with us with that, then we'll share with the people. And also when you post it in your timeline, we're going to share it more so that many people can open that. But there's something that you've said. what do you think before I see Linda is raising his hand.

Encouraging Reflective Discussion

I. Okay, okay. Abdi, Ruby, what do you think that, when the, when KK is trying to implement this thing, what you knew of feature or when you look at this document, you see that now a time is coming that people will be. When there's any free land that is not being used, it means that the government going to take it. Is that the plan? Well, according to this document, it's not even like, if you're not using the land, even if you're using the land, they just feel like what you're using the land is not going to serve the food sustainability they are talking about.

Government Control and Land Rights

They can just come up and say, you know what, that land in your home or even in your village, we want to take it. And therefore this is your compensation. And there you go, like, we're going to take it. Whether you're using that land or not, if it sits on a property or on a fertile or place where they feel like a corporation want to take over and do whatever they want to do with it, then they will take it. It doesn't state that if you're not using the land.

Impending Changes in Land Policies

They just decide that, okay, this is the land we want to take and they'll take it and people will basically have no say. And if you notice, the president even went to Kisi last weekend and he was talking about building houses in the Kisi area. If you know Kisi has fertile land in Kisi. I lived in Kisi and I was amazed with the amount of food and how fertile the land is. And he was talking about building houses in kisi.

Expected Outcomes

And that means that he is trying, he will eventually move people from their land to go to these houses. And in my thinking, I'm thinking like, how is this even possible? And if the president is really open to whatever that he's doing, how come he's not giving the media or promoting the civic education based on this document to really educate people and come out open? And it is going really vague, and people are really not understanding what's going on in terms of.

Land Demolition and New Developments

Because this document also talk about the housing settlement. Basically, they move you, they gonna break up your house, and then they're gonna build the housing project that they want to build. Yeah. I hope I answered your question. Wow. Wow. I've never looked at it. I'll add. Yes, Abdi, go ahead. Yeah, yeah, I think, Ruby, you're right. Also, earlier we talked about this bottom economic approach in regards to environment, where I think the government has really committed to international stage, as evidenced by the recent participation of even the Cabinet secretary on African Groups of optimization of the African Group of Climate CPO 29.

Government Participation and Responsibility

All these actions are part of their broader efforts to position Kenya as a leader in effort in climate action and sustainable development. However, as you said, when you look at their model, these are promising plans and engagement, but actual implementation of these plans are never there, while commitments are outlined in better bottom up, but on the grounds it tells a different story. So I think you're right. There is a growing disconnect between the administration, environmental rhetoric and Tajima Outcome, which is common in government.

Public and Private Partnerships

And there's a lot of pr in regards to this, I think. Wow. Linda, I saw your hands. And I would like to make it clear also that we invited the cabinet secretary. Maybe he's new, also transitioning to his position, but hopefully, he will attend to respond to some of the queries that is being raised in this forum, too. Thank you. Thank you so much, Abdi, for that. Yeah, Linda, Johann was up. I don't know if you have a question.

Advocacy for Accountability

I just wanted to make a comment about Ruby's document. First and foremost, I just think that most of these blueprints that the government has, all these 100 5300 page documents, is ridiculous, because I feel like every time, we tend to repeat the same kind of plan that is never implemented. So if the government can come up with a shorter document, that would be good for the public to also translate and be involved now about the land that is being used and people being kicked out of their respective properties.

Historical Context of Land Policies

This is something that I had long time ago, even before our current president, and I got to hear that 411 from here in America. So most of the times, you'll find that America controls the world. And if we understand the dynamics, just like Ruby said, that we are interconnected, then we'll be able to know kind of where to tap into and to bring change. Given that Kenya is the conveyor belt for Africa, you'll find that all these european nations are always looking to come into Kenya.

Return to Local Governance

So, for me, I can say that we need to take our power back and kind of protect everything. The moment we protect ourselves from the foreign investors and the corporations, then we'll start regaining and picking up from where we are. But as of now, it seems like there's a scramble for Kenya, because Kenya is the one that controls all this trade and investments and all that stuff. I don't want to go into deep details when it comes to that, but for me, I'm all for going back to the basics, where we protect our land and see where we can start from, and then keep it simple and basic.

Framework for Local Farming

I see that from a farmer who's operating both in Kenya and in America. Right. Thank you so much, Linda. Yeah, thank you for that. I have a question, and also, Ruby said something that was very key in this conversation as we go forward to have the food security. The environment should be a place where it is so accommodative to the farmers and everything. But you see, she mentioned something also on the.

Sustainable Practices

If you check the Denmark, she was saying that all the lands, all the cows were just killed because of the same. This document, the kind of document that KK was pushing forward on food security and environment issues and everything. So these are the things that we want to see how this thing is going to affect us. On the food security. It means that with the time, you will not have control, even our land, or you. You not have a control on your land yourself.

Discussion on Food Sovereignty

Bonnie, do you have something to come in before I give it to Doctor Maju? Give me a second. Come back to me. All right. All right, Doctor Manuel, go. And then, Spencer, mine was just a question to. To Robbie about the document. I myself. Okay, let him go ahead then. Let me know when he's done. Thank you. I was asking about the document. You have mentioned that in some other time, the lands will be taken away.

Compensation and Rights

Then you are being compensated. What does the state you compensate to? Where. Where do you go? Do you migrate from your country or whatever happen? And which type of land will they be coming for to compensate and physically?

Introduction and Context

Which. Which area? I would like to know that part so that I understand it better before I forge ahead with my own contribution. Well, in the document, it says that they literally. I'm going to read it facilitate compulsory land accusation for 70 infrastructure for infrastructure development and for agriculture. So basically I don't think that is why the president is really pushing on this affordable housing thing because I believe what it's trying to do is when you are taken out of your land in you are being moved into this affordable housing.

Impact of Housing Policies

But again, what we have seen, it's not working because for example, when the people's houses were being demolished in Nairobi, some people bought those houses, took loan and built those houses. And when all of a sudden they woke up and their houses. No, they were not consulted, they were not coached, they were not canceled on. How, how are they being allocated? They just woke up and they're told, you know what, let us we gonna be demolishing your house next week or on Friday. What did those people do? Most of them went to Chago. Most of them were like, you know what, I have nothing else left with me. I'm moving to the village.

Personal Stories and Experiences

This, I saw this young man actually who was crying. He said, my dad bought this land and took a loan to build this land. And all of a sudden he woke up and he said, my dad packed his stuff and went to the village. So imagine you're going to the village and later on they coming in that village where you have been, you have moved and then they are trying to take you out of that land again. I mean, it's going to be chaotic because as we know this thing can, it can work. I don't even think if it can work. We have to know that we have different culture from the American culture or from the western culture. We are trying to westernize our culture.

Cultural Displacement and Identity

It's not going to be a smoothen road. Most of our villages we attach to those villages. It is our form of identity, it is our form of community spirit that we connect with each other. And also we have our loved ones, like in Kenya, we bury our loved ones in the village. So imagine just like leaving and then everything is being bulldozed. It's gonna be chaotic and they are not. And they're moving you in a high rise somewhere. We cannot operate as well as western culture. And I think that is something that maybe this document does not talk about the culture. It's just, it's very capitalist.

Critique of Current Policies

I would say also very socialist. I mean, if this thing was going to be implemented, we might as well assume that we are in North Korea where just the government is going to take everything and it's just going to be communism. And you know what? Move into the high rise. And that's it. But we cannot adopt. And one thing again, you have to. I mean, Linda was mentioning about, like, America. America is losing. The western world is losing their land, like, the agricultural land, not because they're losing it.

Environmental Concerns and Agricultural Practices

It's so deteriorated using pesticide and using so much, their land is so deteriorated. They know that in the next 30 to 50, not even 30 to 50 years to 60 years, they will not be able to use that land because they've been using GMO and all these chemicals into the land. The land is dead. Like, not even organism can grow into the land. We need this worms and stuff to actually build the land. And that is the organic land we have in Africa. So they are looking into how are they going to feed our people.

Global Hunger and Agricultural Opportunities

To feed their people in the western world, they are looking for Africa has the perfect environment. We have water. Our soil is so rich. And their eyes are on that. And how are they coming in? They are coming into this. Global warming, sustainable development. Sustainable development. It is so superficial. It doesn't fit. Like, you cannot. It's like living. If you read a sustainable document, project or agenda, it is so superficial. It's like living in heaven where everything is the same and everybody is the same. Well, I don't know how that's gonna work.

Debts and Economic Implications

I hope I answered your question, Abdi. Thank you. Wow. Thank you, Larry. She was answering me, and I'm well with it. I'll come up again. I hope you will give me time. Yeah. Can you update? Okay. Okay. Yeah. So that was. That was a good presentation from. From. From her. But I have a few follow up questions, actually, and my follow up question to that for Ruby.

Debt Concerns and Economic Difficulties

I can't hear you. Ruby, can you add? No, I lost, I think, Bonnie, as you come in. I know that is really coming in. As you come in, you have heard what Ruby is saying. And also, when you give your open remarks, you are talking about the debts, what has happened in the country, the debts. And it's amazingly. And so. And we don't know when I, we'll finish paying all these debts. And what Ruby is talking about, the environment and what is happening.

Public Participation and Governance

How they want to try to. To connect this thing to western eyes and everything. How does these things connect and how all these things gonna affect us? Because we are seeing that the people were giving us all this debt. Just these westerns and people. As you come in that. Yeah. And I know that is your area. That's why I think I was lost. Right. Yeah. Abdi, you.

Introduction to GMO Crops

So GMO food has been there for a while, whereby, you know, a crop is modernized or the yield is improved in order to accommodate the population. However, what Bill Gates has come up with is called the rna resistant crop, which I believe he has already introduced in country like Nigeria. Now they have that maize. And the problem with that is with rna resistant crop, basically, it can be modified like the gene of that seed. Let's say a seed for maize can be manipulated to the population that it. Where it's being grown. So, for example, if this crop, if, let's say, Bill, gets decided to, you know, what african population need to reduce, and they can target a DNA within the kenyan population, for example, and reduce the gene pool of the population, and therefore not resistant to many diseases, and we could be very vulnerable. So they can either even choose it's a weapon because they can even choose to use it as a weapon to target the population and eventually you can be killed.

Manipulation of RNA Resistant Crops

So they're saying that the rna crop is just to manipulate the seed so that a gene is manipulated for the seed to improve the yield, but it can also be manipulated to. To target the population. So that is very dangerous, being the fact that right now, if one of the sustainable development goals or global warming issue is the increasing population, and each time that I watch the news, when they are talking about the increased population, you always see an african face, which means Africans are not supposed to increase their population even right now. What's the running president of the US, Harris? Harris, keep on talking about the african population is between, like, the teen is growing and it's going to be rampant in the next 30 years. So you start to wonder, are these people, they can use this rna to equally target it? And they use that. They can say that, you know what? We want to reduce african population. And this can be used as a weapon when it comes to food security.

Food Security Concerns

When I was growing up in the village in Kenya, you know, we grew up near Lake Victoria and the lake is available. And, you know, one day I was like, what is going on? You know, and people would say, like, I can't believe you guys have this much water and you cannot even produce enough food that's feeding, you know, kisumu, for example. And that kind of hit me and I started to actually, this is the time I was really young and started to question why the Lake Victoria was not being used. And as you guys, most of you probably know that Lake Victoria, we cannot use that lake because of Egypt, because of the treaty that was signed by the british long time ago. And if we really care about food security in using that Lake Victoria, we can. We would be like importing tomatoes right now. We would be importing so much out of the country, we can yield so much food just from the Lake Victoria alone using that water. But no, we can't because of this treaty that was signed.

Land Leasing and Governance Issues

And if I use that example to come to the list, leasing of the land that the bitter economy, the bottom up economy the president is talking about, like, people will be forced to lease their land to international corporation. You're not going to get that land back because this treaty that was signed by the British before the colony during the colonial period, we got our independence and this treaty is still binding. And it was, I believe it already ended. But still, that Lake Victoria, you cannot use it to do irrigation, massive irrigation of food, whether to whatever you want to produce. You can go fetch the water from the lake. You can go and, you know, go fish in the lake, but you cannot use that lake in Kisumu alone. Like Kisumu city, there's water rationing. So you can imagine this water rationing. We are not allowed to use that water. So if there's anything that thinks that now the leasing of the land in Kenya, you will be able get that back.

Civic Education and Awareness

Somebody was talking about like, again, the tree planting. In the tree planting. When I was in school as a young girl, there's something that was used that we, every pale or every child, were being given responsibility to plant a tree. You have to plant that tree. And it was each student's responsibility to nurture that tree and take care of that tree until that tree is grown. And I remember taking care of my tree during the holiday period. You know, were even told how to make sure that you put, you take a bottle and you filled it with water and you put that bottle inside the soil and the water, that tree will be able to get that water. Why don't we practice that nationwide? Why can't somebody promote that nationwide? And then we, everybody would nurture their tree and it kind of became fun because you'd be like, oh, my tree is really doing good. It became something that you are nurturing, something that you're growing, something that was just something that you were responsible for.

Community Engagement and Resistance

It was fun for many students. Why can't we introduce that instead of, like, using. And were allowed to plant many trees like were being given, like all these nursery trees. So, I mean, we have to be very careful and as you know, we have to be able to claim our land and we have to stand strong, guys. We have to increase our civil education and educate our mothers on what's going on. For me, I've been educating my mom a lot because, believe it or not, my mom kind of believed that President Ruto is a godly man and yada. And a lot of our mom or grandparents believe that just because they give a rambe to school. And when I started educating my mom of what is going on and I'm like, please, when you go to your church, can you talk to your friend? Can you talk to this person?

Cultural Impact of Food Security!

And I told about the grand out thing, and my mom was like, no, that's not possible because my mom plant groundnuts every day. And that is something that even if you go to a village, to the, to our home right now, my mom, if before you leave, she'll give you a gift of like, you know, two goros of peanuts. And if you come in peanuts, we use it for socialization. So not only the food thing is going to kill our culture because that is what we use to socialize. So imagine if your food is restaurant, you'll be paranoid if somebody comes to your house because the only thing you have so small that the government has given you for you to eat. We not going to be able to share. At some point they even going to tell us, you cannot share your food with your neighbor. Now you can't share your seed. Where are they going to stop if we don't stand up?

Activism and Advocacy

And we really, like, I am a busy mom and I have shied away from social media for so long, but trust me, this thing has really brought me into another level of activism. And I just feel like, I feel like I'm burning inside, you know, I'm like, this cannot happen because I'm considering I have a sister, she depends totally on the land, you know? And I'm like, okay, now that burden is going to be transferred to me. If ever she's moved out of your land, then I'll be like, okay, I have to send my sister money, my aunt money, all these people that depend on the land. So, yeah, so thank you, guys. And yeah, I'm here for more. Thank you. Thank you, Esther. Thank you, Ruby, for those comments. And I just want to highlight the.

Foreign Corporate Interests

Concerning influence of foreign and corporate interests, particularly tied to loans and grants. Maybe Mwangi also can speak to this. I think this interest often drives policies that prioritize, I think, profit over the well being of our citizens and local farmers with a warring, I will say, trends towards sacrificing public health and environmental sustainability. I agree with you. The push for GMO is a prime example. While it boosts yield, there is a long term effect on the environment and health risk. So I think this is some of the things that. And I'm wondering why all these grants and all this money are tied to a certain specific. They are tied to these agricultural things.

Need for Structural Changes

Having said that, I'll yield the mic to the next speaker if Hilary or Lady justice have something to say and then we move on. Thank you. Oh, I think we'll move to the next speaker. Is that Phil? I have a comment too. Go ahead, Matamota. Yeah, I was just taking notes based on what, I guess the comments that were being stated here. When it comes to the foreign policies that are tied towards the grants and interests, I think one of my observations are we lack proper negotiators who sit at the table with the Kenya government in the process of all these loans and programs that are being implemented. And one of the things that we've always tried to do as the diaspora is to try to get engaged with the Kenya government.

Public Representation in Policy Making

But the challenges that we've continued to experience is having access to the government officials, including the CSD, where we could have a project that we want the government to be involved in, but they do not follow through or they do not seem interested because whatever their goal and vision is just what it is and they are not willing to work with the public. So my question is, how can we as Kenyans, ensure that the public also has representation where we have good negotiators and advocates of the public? I'll give you guys an example. For instance, here in Delaware, I sit in the Delaware African Caribbean Affairs Commission, which is a commission that is tied to the governor. And one of our goals is geared towards advocating for the needs of the Africans, Caribbeans and African Americans needs within the communities.

Advocacy for Kenyan Interests

Another goal also is to advocate for our african countries back home. So we work closely with the legislators to ensure that any policies that do not align with what our interests are, we are working closely with them and giving them feedback, as well as also having public meetings where we are disseminating the information to the public. So my question is how can we have a structure where I, us Kenyans are also closely involved with the government, where we also have our own ways that we've organized ourselves to keep them accountable and also to ensure that our interests are being taken care of. The second recommendation is how can the african diaspora be closely involved where it is mandatory for the government to have proper negotiators also at the table as their advisors?

Electing Responsible Leaders

Because we live here and we see a lot of things that are going on, but many a times the government will make decisions that from our end will feel like they are selling our country. So how can we make that happen or how can we make the government accountable? Because if the public has representation, then at least we'll have kind of a way where there's no disconnect. I hope that makes sense. Thank you. I wrote other comments, but I'll continue. I'll chime in later on. I don't want to take too long. Thank you, Esther. I will just read a few comments online from our readers as we go on, but I will still yield the mic to the next speaker as we look at what are our comments online.

Public Accountability on Loans

And there's also questions coming for Robbie on the online comment if you can have a look at them. And that was it. And who is it this to? Boniface Mongo is doing the load work his patriot as a diasporan he knows public officer who steals, misappropriates public funds. Any amount is sure to go to jail. That is from asthma. And we have Sir John ke the misallocation of loans will ultimately come at a high cost to Kenyans people as they will be required to repay the debts that yield no tangible gains or advancement. It is time to demand accountability, openness regarding the use of borrowed money. We should not be forced to pay back these loans, if not any concrete project to demonstrate the use of them.

Call for Internal Accountability

Thank you. I yield the mic. Thank you, Abdi. Does anybody have answer from automotive before we go to David Wokabe? Bonnie, please go ahead. Can you guys hear me? Yes. You're audible. Yeah, I was gonna say, look, all these problems, you know, to address this problem that we're having of the government misbehaving, the government not listening, the government stealing resources. It comes down to the character of the people that you put into office. I mean, we can spend the whole day here talking about how to fix it, but it starts with making sure that we elect the right people into parliament, right? If you had a parliament right now, that self respect that respects itself, you will have committees in parliament trying to find out why the government is wasting people's resources.

Addressing Corruption in Leadership

Why do we have so much corruption? Nothing is being done about it. But you have a parliament that doesn't care, right? You have, you know, just look at the people that we put into parliament, right? Look at their. Just go and look at people like, you know, salas here, you know, people like Oscar Sudhi, right? We are not electing people that know what it means to actually be in parliament. They have no understanding of their role in a constitutional democracy. They just think that you go in, you become a celebrity, you build your online profile, and that's what it means to be an MP, right? Our own citizens also do not understand the purpose of having a parliament.

Voter Awareness and Education

For example, people think that the MP's primary job is to distribute bursaries. So, for example, if you look at the financial situation of a country right now, the average citizen does not understand the complicity of parliament in that problem. They don't understand that we cannot rack up 9 trillion in debt in ten years if you had a government, if you had a parliament that works. So we have to take responsibility for the fact that we elect in thieves. And I'm saying all of us, right, these people do not get into office through people. We put them to office times. And I'm just going to say something that's controversial. Even when we have information about the criminal nature of some of these people, we still elect them.

The Cycle of Poor Leadership

I'll give you an example. Nairobi county. The first governor there was Governor Kidero. He came into office, he looted Nairobi to the ground. Okay, then in the latin destination, he's running against another guy who is, according to him, he's a reformed fraudster. The guy used to go and manufacture fake documents and sell people's property. Could not even complete a prison sentence. We are leaving you in Mombasa, right? He comes out. Hello? Yes, we can hear you. Okay, yeah, sorry about that. So I'm talking about our own complexity. We have to look in the mirror and also understand what we've done as citizens in creating this problem. Right? We can.

Consequences of Our Choices

I mean, if you're gonna make progress, we have to look at our own sales and see how we've created this situation. Our country does not, you know, like Somalia, where you just wake up with an I. You know, you buy a bunch of weapons and you sort of. You execute whoever is the leader, right? We put this into office. I was giving the example of Nairobi, where Governor Kidaro comes in, lose Nairobi to the ground. The next election is between him and someone else who has absolutely no qualification. He's never run anything. He has not done anything that can give you the impression that he's going to be a good leader. You know, a guy that did not even complete a prison sentence.

The Importance of Accountability

He tells he was to be governor and reelect him. He comes in three years later. He loses everybody to the ground. He's impeached. Then there's another election. And in this election, we have someone who has a history that can be verified, who's educated, who has a record of accomplishment. I'm talking about Paula Kapidia. He's running against a guy who has absolutely no qualifications. I'm talking about Sakaja has never ran anything. He's never ran a kiosk. Can't even have the discipline to get an education like you and I. And you look at these two people, and the people select someone who does not have the discipline to even earn a bachelor's degree.

The Role of Public Participation

He goes and procures something just so he can check a box. And we put that guy into office. And right now, you look at Nairobi, they are complaining about the looting that's happening. Nothing is getting done. We also have to look at us and say, why is it that we elect thieves? Why are we selecting the wrong people all the time? So we have to look at ourselves and say, we can do better. And so I'm trying to answer the question that was asked by that lady. You know, to me, it comes down to the people that we elect. If you elected good people, good, you know, people of good character, there's always going to be a few people that are going to.

Setting Standards for Accountability

To be thieves, but that's not going to be the majority. If you look at right now, most people that are in government right now are thieves. You look at every county. When a governor leaves, there is a. There's an, there's an investigation by the EACC. Almost every governor of Moranga, governor of CIA, governor of Niguri, governor of Tiambu, governor, like every single governor that comes out is under investigation because we are putting the wrong people into office. And I'm just telling you, there's no resources that we can devote as a country that are going to overcome the problems that we create by electing thieves. The EAC, to me, is totally ineffective.

Election Integrity and Governance

But even if there was desire on the ESC to fix this problem, you just don't have enough people or enough money, right. If we elect good people, that's gonna solve 90% of the problems. And that's what happens in a place like Canada or the US, where you elect people that have. That are, you know, people with a good character, right? They're not thieves, they're not corrupt people. And that solves 90% of the problem. So if you elect me, for example, and I understand what it means to be a public servant, I'm gonna go to parliament.

Public Interests in Governance

And if a government wants to do something for, you know, wants to build, let's say, a stadium in my community, I'm going to say, hey, I appreciate you wanting to do that, but I want to make sure that this project actually brings value to my people. Right? Does it bring value? And I want to make sure that my people are involved in decision making so that if we proceed with our project, we know how much is it going to cost. We want to make sure that the investment is a prudent investment and that the project is exactly going to bring value to my people. But the people that we have right now, that's the, you know, in parliament, they just don't do that.

Need for Reform in Kenya

So I think Kenya needs a thorough makeover. We need a culture reset. We need people to understand, what does it mean? We are a public servant, and we also need our own people to understand. What do you expect? And what should you expect from someone in parliament? Their job is not to distribute bursaries. They're supposed to be holding the government accountable. They're supposed to make sure that the government is not wasting our resources. They are supposed to. How can you have a country where we've accepted corruption is part of our life right now?

Impact of Governance on Society

You look at our police, for example. Everybody knows the police are corrupt, and yet nothing is done about it, right? So I'm saying we need a reset. We need a parameter problem. Thank you very much. Can I make a comment on Bonnie? Sure. Bonnie. I think for me, my thought process when it comes to that, like, I guess comparing America and Kenya is one thing that is evident. And people need to realize is that in America, most of the systems have been set in place to promote the rich. So in as much as we may not realize, they're pretty much.

Systemic Issues in Governance

If I'm to give it a good word. It can be, it can be viewed as corrupt, you know, so you can find you have a government official who is genuine, but the policies that have been set in place are actually favoring the rich or, you know, the haves as opposed to the lower class. So if we focus on changing the systems across the board, wherever, in every country that we are in, then that will actually take us to another level where we are trying to promote change. And we've seen that happen with the IMF, World bank issues and also within our internal policies.

Geopolitical and Societal Issues

I don't know what state you are in, but I know in Delaware we are fighting about changing the entire system in America because the policy is geared towards keeping the poor and the middle class down, where you cannot lift yourself up and the rich continue to be reached based on the policies that they've set in place. I just wanted to comment that so that we can realize that the Americans are sophisticated where they've put their interests first. And if we try to just protect ourselves, then we'll be able to change.

Diaspora Engagement and Advocacy

Or if we speak up, you know, as the diaspora, also from our different states, then we'll be able to protect the money that is also going back in Kenya to ensure people are getting that money and it's not getting stuck in between in the pipeline. Can I just make a quick comment on that? I mean, so the discussion I think that we have is not whether or not the american system is perfect. The difference between a banana republic and a country that functions is this you look at. So I live in Texas, right? I live in Texas.

Educational Comparisons

My kids go to a public school system. You know, if you follow me, you've seen where they go to school. There's always going to be, you know, a few imperfections in a system. But what I'm talking about is 90%. If you look at the US, for example, if there's a budget for building a school, right, 95% or 98% of the. Of the. What was intended is actually gonna, is gonna end up happening. So they build a school and you can see it's a good school. I don't have to take my kids to a private school because my public school works and my kids are gonna succeed in that school, right?

Public Trust in Governance

The difference between a place like Texas and Kenya is that in Kenya they are taking 98% of the funds and using 2%. Do you understand? The difference is that in a place like Kenya, 98% of the money is stolen and the only amount that actually gets to the people is the 2% in taxes. It's the opposite. If someone is going to steal, it's a very small fraction. So when I compare the kenyan system and the us system, I'm not saying that the us system is perfect. I'm saying that it works.

Government Functionality

And how, you know, it works is I live here. Okay? I can afford to take my kids to a private school, but I don't need to do that, because I know that I live in a place where the. The government functions, right? They have good teachers in the schools. My kids. Everything that my kids want, whether it's academically, whether it's sportswise, they get it from that school. And that's what we're trying to say. We're not. We're not shooting for a system that's perfect, right. I'm saying right now, in most places in Kenya, right, because you can't tell me that you're gonna.

Healthcare and Infrastructure

If your kid happens to be in a car accident tomorrow, most people are not going to be able to take it. Take them to the local hospital, because, you know, it's not going to be staffed. They're not going to have equipment. Going to a private school. Many of you have their kids in a public school. You are paying money in taxes, but you don't actually get any services from it because they. The schools are garbage. Right? So you actually paying taxes, that don't help you. I pay taxes in Texas and my kids go to a public school because it's a good school. Right.

Social Infrastructure Failures

If I send my kids to a hospital, they're gonna be. They're gonna be taken care of. That's what we're talking about. When I'm driving on a road that's safe. Right? That's. So, again, this is not a comparison about ideals. I'm talking about just, you know, basic things. Right? You can't, you know, I'm not saying America is perfect. I'm saying it's a good starting point. Thank you. Thank you, Bonnie. Oh, could you please have David submit? And then we'll go to doctor. Then Doctor Ajus. Thank you, David, please go ahead.

Environmental Contributions

Thank you so much. Yes. Go ahead. Thank you. Thank you once again. I think we lost you there. Can anybody hear him? No, I can't hear him either. Yeah, David, we lost you. Could you just drop and come back? In the meantime, could we go to doctor then? Doctor A. Thank you very much, lady justice, and all the speakers that have gone before, I think. Let me begin by just. Oh, and I didn't introduce myself the first time. I am Doctor Danika, I am an environmental engineer.

Professional Implications

There's some. Okay. There's some noise from somewhere. Yeah, somebody mic is unmuted. Can you mute all the mics for doctor to speak? Thank you. Go ahead, Dr. Please unmute and go ahead. Thank you. Thank you. Sorry, I was not able to unmute myself previously. Okay, I was just saying. I'm Doctor Danka Nyango. I'm an environmental engineer. I teach in one of the public universities here in Kenya, the Technical University of Kenya. I'm also a consultant in environmental sustainability.

Systemic Challenges in Kenya

Now, I want to begin by reiterating what my good friend Bonnie has just said. That the american system and all these other systems that we compare ourselves to, or that we draw inspiration from, may have their own weaknesses at a higher level, but at least they have built systems that work for the majority. For many of the people here, we have a system, as Bonnie says, 98 to two. We have gone way beyond the Pareto principle that says that 80% of our problems usually result from 20% of courses. But here we are talking about 98 to two, or maybe even 99 to one.

Inequality and Governance

So a system that works only for 1% of the elite up there, and does not work for every other person, is a system that we must speak up, not only speak against, but we must also take active steps towards going to rectify these problems. As Bonnie has challenged us, I'm sure he has always tasked us, we know where the solution lies. The solution lies in us stepping out the elite of the society. Many a times we would shy away from politics. But I think now I'm happy, because most of us have realized that politics is too important.

Public Involvement in Political Processes

And every aspect of our being and our development is intertwined with politics. And we can't leave it to this irresponsible, responsible people that we are talking about. Many people, were trained knowing that were trained growing up, or go to read very hard, get good grades, go to the university, you get a job. And most people for whom that principle worked, the people who got jobs after campus and they came to the midlife here in Kenya, they got comfortable and they forgot about what is happening.

Legislative Awareness

So for a long time now, we are waking up to realize that so many things are even happening in parliament, in terms of legislations that under normal circumstances, would have gone without our notice. But these are things that have very grave implications for our lives, like this agricultural laws that we are talking about here. So I want to challenge my fellow colleagues, my fellow elites. Let's not be comfortable in our professions, let's not be comfortable in that the life is working for us, we can be able to afford the bare minimum for ourselves and the families and we just don't seem to care about what else happens.

Environmental and Agricultural Policies

We have seen that if we don't step out and take these and get ourselves into governance, then these politicians of old will run this country down in our eyes again, the I had a lot of questions and points about the tree planting exercise. They actually call it tree growing a good concept. They got a good concept, but as is a characteristic of this regime, they get every good concept. They get good concepts but apply them wrongly and they end up not working completely. The bottom up economic transformation agenda was a good concept, looking at it from face value, but it doesn't work in actual reality.

Shortcomings in Environmental Initiatives

Yeah, the tree growing exercise is a good concept. In fact, they are not even calling. I had the previous the CS when she one time on tv saying, correcting the journalists that it's not tree planting, it is tree growing because we need to nurture them all the way. And as long as that exercise is not based within schools, the best place to realize that idea, as has been pointed out, would be within our schools. I was greatly disappointed when the first exercise was launched during school holidays.

Implementation Challenges in Environmental Policies

I asked myself, do these people really know what they're doing with. We really need to rethink some of those policies so that we know as we ask ourselves what species of trees are being grown that has been prosecuted very well, I think by one of the speakers that came earlier. We must ensure they're the right species. And where do they come from? I haven't had in my village local youth groups being constituted to form to start tree nurseries so that they can be able to sell seedlings to the government program. So where these seedlings come from in their millions, nobody knows.

Accountability in Environmental Practices

That must be answered. If that program is being done based in our school system and also used to empower the local communities, then it will be a good program. Otherwise we'll end up with programs that were very good. I made reference to Galana Kualalu in my opening remarks. Ten more than ten years down the line, nobody knows where that project went yet. A lot of money was sunk. So the elite of our society, we must come forward. We have brilliant people in our universities, in our professions.

Devolution Issues in Agricultural Governance

We must be able to come out and correct the mess that is going on at Kilimo House. One of the greatest challenges, I don't know if somebody spoke to this when I stepped out with our food security system is the devolution of agriculture. Agriculture is supposed to be fully devolved. Yet Kilimo House is filled up to capacity. So much so that they have overflowed to hill plaza in upper hill. That is still Ministry of Agriculture, Kilimo House Imeja until they are part of the ministry of agriculture at the national level. At Hill Plaza in Harper Hill, do we need all these people to be working on just policy?

Structural Mismanagement in Agriculture

Because now at the ministry at the national level, were told that they are supposed to be working on national agricultural policy. Then the actual work is supposed to take place at the counties. Yet Kilimo House is full, Hill Plaza is full with the people of the Ministry of Agriculture at national level. I also happen to have provided project management support to the minister of agriculture on a few programs. One of them is called the small scale Irrigation and Value Addition program. That was funded, actually it happened one and two funded by the African Development bank.

Funding and Project Implementation

Another one that is now being launched is a program for building resilience for food and nutrition security in the Horn of Africa, still financed by the World bank. Hundreds of millions coming into agricultural programs through the national government. And what does the national government do? Like the sieve up. The small scale irrigation and value addition program is meant to support small scale irrigation at grassroots level. But this program is being run by the national government and we are sent to the counties to go and put up boreholes. We sink boreholes, then support the community to develop small scale, use the borehole water to support small scale value addition.

Inefficiencies in Agricultural Policy

Irrigation and value addition. This program is being run directly from the national government. Sometimes you would go, you don't know what. The county also has its own program. They are both building balls. So we have one community like earlier this year was in Meru. The county has its own program. We are also there. So even the local communities are confused which program is which. So I feel that this a lot of money that is going in, but it will end up that this money is not going to create the intended impact.

Food Security Initiatives

We are talking about a program to build resilience for food and nutrition security in the owner of Africa. What is it going to achieve? Hundreds of millions go. So if were in a proper system, then those are monies that should be channeled through where devolution. This devolution thing. Why should there be that duplication of responsibility? What role does the minister of agriculture have in going to think a boreholes for a small scale irrigation program project directly in the middle of nowhere, somewhere inside the county? So those are some of the things that we have to step up and correct.

Promoting Local Enterprises and Systems

Finally, there's one thing. Even as we talk about food and nutrition, security and all these things, we must be able to, and this will cut across all sector. We must begin to support our local enterprises to be able to do some of these things that we are doing. I want to draw an example from the fishing. I come from South Nyanza and fishing was the traditional economic activity along the lake. Now fishing has gone to another level. Most of the fish you eat in Nairobi here are farmed fish, fortunately or unfortunately.

Commercialization of Local Resources

Maybe not farmed fish from around, but farmed fish from the lake. We know that now there are investors that have come there and they are doing fish farming. Large scale fish farming. What do they call them, those fish caging in the lake. Most of our local farmers have been thrown out of business because were not able to empower them to be able to invest in it. What is so technical about fish caging that we must get victory farms? And I don't have anything against victory farms. I'm just using it as an example to come and invest in Lake Victoria.

Community Empowerment and Economic Opportunities

We couldn't put ourselves together and empower local fishermen to be able to invest in fish farming in Lake Victoria. We attended the Homer Bay International Investment conference earlier this year. And one of the key, the anchor investors that were given an enterprise license to operate within the new special economic zone that was launched in Omabe was Victory Farms. This is a foreign farm. What they simply did is to go and invest in fish cages. Now they are supplying fish all over the country.

Local vs Foreign Economic Practices

Even here in Nairobi, I buy fish from a victory farms outlet in Nairobi west when I want fish. So what is so? Look at all that. We simply needed to support also our farmers to be able to invest in such kinds of activities. Then we are able to grow and promote our local enterprises. These people will do the business? Yes, they come to invest, they pay tax, but the profit is repatriated back into their own countries. So we really need to build a system that works for us.

Irrigation and Mechanization in Agriculture

For us to be able to achieve food security, we need to large scale irrigation systems that can support mechanization, mechanized agriculture. I'm yet to hear the Ministry of Agriculture talk or introduce any policy on mechanization and large scale agriculture. So we will keep being here. We pretend that we are supporting small scale, but that is subsistence. For us to be able to achieve national food security so that we can have even surplus to export we must be able to move from small scale subsistence agriculture to large scale mechanized agriculture supported by proper irrigation schemes.

Building Public Engagement in Sustainable Development

And I challenge us that these things, we don't want just to end up as being advocates. We want to build a system that is going to help us achieve these things. So I want to challenge us, brothers and sisters, those of us, they are good leaders here. And Bonnie has given this challenge to us here and even to me personally. Let's not be comfortable where we are. We are now. This is the time to build and identify and nurture leadership that will take over from this current crop of octogenarian politicians that have held our systems hostage.

Preparing Future Leaders

This is the time to step out. We team together, we work, we mentor, we nurture leadership so that when we get into the next election, we want not only to be career activists where we just advocate for good things, activism is good. In fact, we will keep advocating. But while that advocacy is going on strongly, we also need people who will step out and take over so that in 2027, or the next time we go for elections, we need to have a house, we need to have lady justice, you know, prosecuting these good points in parliament.

Invoking Change in Governance

Rubikona, we need to have people now coming back home to be able to help us. We want Bonnie to come and do this economics, help us with a bit of economics from home after being away from the country for so long. So I want to challenge people now. There's a lot of organization that is going on. There are a lot of initiatives that are going on behind the scenes, including people who are organizing themselves politically to be able to go, because if we send one or two people into parliament, they will be corrupt, they will be overtaken by the system.

Mobilizing for Effective Change

So the game now is how do we get people en masse so that we have control of parliament. Parliament is in the hands of people who can help us to be able to put these things into actual practice. So that is the challenge that I leave with us here. Let us say, if you are that kind of a person, please don't keep quiet if you have that conviction. I again realize that many of us have those convictions, but we just quiet with them until in a forum where we challenged people to come out and we received a lot of DM's of people of the same mind.

Creating Impactful Solutions

And now when we receive them, we direct them to the right place, we team them up with people of like mind and urge them to craft something that can help us to be able to overhaul that parliament and those county assemblies in 2027. So don't keep quiet. If you feel that there's a conviction in your heart that there's something you can do either in terms of helping us crafting a strategy or coming out to take active part in the next leadership. So don't keep quiet, reach out. Let us talk.

Concluding Thoughts

Let us be able to now move this conversation from what the problem is to what we can do about the problem. Thank you and have a good evening. Thank you, doctor. I think that was a brilliant submission. I just wanted to add to the Galana Kaluru project actually is a glaring example of a missed opportunity in sustainable development. I think instead of transforming Kenya arid lands into a vibrant agricultural hub, it has turned to be a white elephant project and a waste of public resource.

Examples of Mismanaged Projects

Another example is also the itere dam water supply, which was to supply water to thousands of residents that has not even taken off. So I think there is this disconnect. There is the plan on paper, which is the bottom economic approach, but which is very different on the reality on the ground. Thank you. That's my few additions. Thank you Abdi, for that submission. And Doctor Ari, thank you very much as well. Doctor Jackton, please.

Overview of Public Health

Thank you so much lady justice, for giving me this opportunity. Mine would be robustly brief. Now, when I was just getting in, I've actually heard of people discussing our state of political leadership. And that is why I would take it before I come to the real issue in discussion. Are you able to get me? Yes, we hear you, but you're breaking a little bit. So just gone.

Politics and Representation

Okay. Okay. Now, sorry for that. Now let me say this, that the biggest challenges or challenge that currently we have in our country is actually the people who are leading us. And this is specifically the representative at the constituency level of parliament. And so we have a hashtag that is going on called dissolve the parliament. That is what we are facing. And then the other part that we are pushing for is also issues of id issuance. Once we are done with that, then we can now be in a position to bring a new crop of leaders who can be able to take us forward in implementing some of the best policies that Kenya has developed that is being used outside Kenya in countries like Rwanda.

Environmental Legislation and Implementation

That aside, let me come back to the issue of environment and food security. I happen to have a proper background on public health, nutrition and of course that specializations discusses a lot of areas on food and nutrition security. And part of what I wanted to contribute is currently we have got very good policies within the Ministry of Agriculture. But that ministry does not have a proper act that are embedded within the law. And that makes even implementing those policies that we have becoming extremely, very difficult.

Need for Legislative Transformation

The policy on food production and value chain systems that was actually launched in 2022 is one of the best police that currently Rwanda is using even to implement agricultural production. And they are next to actually introducing one of the biggest manufacturing, I mean processing bank, processing factory in Rwanda that is meant for production of drugs or manufacture of pharmaceuticals, essential pharmaceuticals. That said aside, I just wanted to let you know that our mp's have failed us. Because majority of the projects or projects being implemented and fail along the way are actually things that are supposed to be an act of parliament.

Public Resource Management

And that then means that even if they are put in place with proper funding, they don't see the light of the day. And stealing money becomes very easy because there is no proper legislation on how those projects are undertaken and how monitoring and evaluation bit are supposed to be done. I've heard of so many mega projects that we have mentioned there before, the galana, Kualalu, Tere dam and all that those projects are having worked in those arid areas, understand that there's a breakdown in how we are actually being implemented because they start implementing them, but along the way you realize that they flop up because there is no law, actually there is no proper legislation on how we are supposed to do carry out agricultural activities in our country.

Impact of Agricultural Policies

The other bit of it is on agricultural regulations, that issues of farm chemicals that are supposed to be used in farm. Like right now we have part of county, I think Meru County, I think it's a village that has so much cases of breast cancer and that is brought by high levels of use of pesticides and, you know, and chemicals that then people are consuming and environmentally has a very big effect to human life. I have also been in a position to implement some projects in Turkana focusing on food security. And were doing hydroponics and permaculture, food productions.

Legislative Barriers to Sustainable Practices

That is not in the act because majority of these things, as much as we might be discussing them now, but they actually revolves around legislations. And so it becomes very difficult to even implement some of these projects in the country because then even the implementing partners, the international implementing partners or donors will require you, when you are even in need of some funding or require to states legislations that regulate such kind of agricultural products, agricultural production programs. And so it becomes very difficult even for donors or development partners to be in a position to fully implement such kind of very good initiatives or agricultural programs.

Future Directions for Policy and Governance

And so my parting shot would be that maybe moving forward we got to focus on because Kenya has very good policies that currently finds their way outside. And those policies are actually being used by other countries to make their countries better by other leaders to make their countries better beyond Kenya. And so we simply need a not livestock act like the one that we saw was introduced in Parliament without proper public participation or Pang Seed act that we saw. But rather one of the questions that I was asking one of the guys is that why do we actually not talking about issues of regulating mechanization, as someone has said, as well as being in a position to regulate chemicals that we use, including fertilizers and spraying chemicals that we use in our farms.

Health Implications of Agricultural Practices

Those are very important because they environmentally pose a lot of one maybe benefits and as well as threats to human consumptions. The other thing is that if you look at Kenya Bureau of Standards and any other partner that act on agricultural productions and produce, there is no proper standard of measure when it comes to regulations of our food produce. I mean, agricultural produce as well as supply chain and storage, you know, mechanisms. The bucks still stop with parliament to be in a position that someone like me, if I decide to maybe propose, you know, a bill through a member of parliament, it can see the light of the day and for the interest of many Kenyans, both health wise and even in terms of, I mean, economically and even financially.

Public Advocacy for Food Security

That said, then we. I'm calling upon all of us that now we need to start making a very proper discussion on why we are losing our agricultural value and agricultural pride. That naturally how we have been having for a long time, you know, we have been having for a long time today, if you move along Nyanza, where probably I happen to come from, and you crisscross our rice production zone that is aero as well as even in Kisi. And even if you go to Kericho as well as sugar industries, they are seemingly to be collapsing.

International Competition and Local Production

Because now you see Finleys and Kenyans are fighting over the issue of tea productions and all that. If you go to nyanza, for example, Sandwestern, you will find all the sugar industries are not there for some reasons because there was no proper legislation put in place on how to be able to regulate or manage our food production baskets. There was also an issue of maize production. I can tell you for free, this regime might not be very ready to implement what we are talking about, except that if we get goodwills in the parliament.

Policy Recommendations for Future Governance

Because part of the proposals that they had initially put even before they came into power was the issue of burning maize production in our food basket of tanzoya and was in Gishu. And that is something that is in the public limelight. Remember the gentleman on top of the leadership had already proposed that we start now to. We start now to bringing on board avocado production, that maize production. And that has really affected because then that means we have to import maize that local citizens, and recently we actually imported some maze that citizens are supposed to use, which should not be the case.

Ensuring Agricultural Sustainability

So even as we are moving forward, we simply need to focus on different acts or legislations that will ensure we have got not only qualitative, but I mean, not only quantitative, but also qualitative aspect of our agricultural productions. Remember, food security has got four pillars. Majority of almost three pillars are not currently actually available within the rims of our population. We have accessibility, we have availability, affordability and acceptability. People cannot be able now, especially in those areas that we say are arid or assaults, people cannot be able to actually access, you know, the food and because they are not available in the first place and so not affordable.

Cultural and Health Considerations

And to some extent, we also have to now start thinking which foods are acceptable within our systems so that we don't post a lot of medical complications that comes with consuming foods that are not of good standards to our people. Thank you so much. Thank you, Jack Tan, for bringing that submission. I just want to add on the parts of avocado production. I read about that sometimes, but happening in Kisi. And my greatest concern is avocado is known to interfere with water levels within a community.

Environmental Ramifications of Agriculture

And a great example is Chile in South America. It's really messed up their water to the point now that, you know, water is one thing that people fight over and that comes from a result of, you know, Chile has been a major exporter of avocado to the US, to Canada, to all these other countries. So I know that the UK brought this program in Nyanza, and personally, I don't see it as a benefit to the community. It's going to bring a greater damage to the people. I see.

Feedback and Closing Thoughts

What's his name? Is he out again? David. David is back. Okay, I have lady Justice. I have two questions for Daktari from our audience before he drops off. And Abdi, I can't hear you. I cannot tell. Hear him. Go ahead, Abdi, ask the questions, please. Ephraim, why are you disliking just. No, no, it's just a notice to tell him that we can't hear him. Oh, I see. Thank you. So, Abdi, unfortunately we can't hear you. Could we please go to David then? Ephraim? Yes, Abdi, I can hear you.

Corporate Interests and Climate Change

You know, it's creating problem in one hand and solving problem in another. So it's just a swapping of problems. And Africa is being pushed into this because basically there's an interest of huge corporations. So basically the corporations for them, they have the interest of, like for example, if you look at the GMO food and if you look at other things that are happening, and some people might not agree with me when I say the climate change. For example, look, there are people like, for example, countries like Dubai are making rain and the chemicals are used to make this rain. The world is letting them do it is affecting people. It's not only affecting Dubai, it's affecting people in Africa, it's affecting people in Asia. It's affecting the world. What are we going to do about that? And then another sham is here that we do carbon credits to mitigate climate change. When you do carbon credits to mitigate climate change, basically you are buying. Chicago has one of the biggest carbon trade center. It's like the us stock exchange. It's a stock exchange for carbon trade. And people basically trade, they come up with this solution to mitigate, but in real sense, it does not mitigate anything. It is still to me, the world was set up to work. We can mitigate it, but it was set up to be what it is.

Impacts of Climate Policies on Africa

Life is changing, things are changing, and there's always going to be a change. But if we are being pushed to do things based on climate change, I think we're going to burn, because as a poor, as a country that's still developing, we are being forced into buying into policies that does not serve us, but is serving the west and is serving corporations. And corporations know very well that the moment you refuse to take action on climate change, you're being branded. You're being branded as, you know, you're either poor, you're being branded as uneducated, you're being branded as, like, literally, the world is at you. And it's the same thing. I mean, it might be an extreme example with what we're seeing happening with the lgbt community. It's like the moment you oppose that, then you are anti something, you know, that's not basic. So we need to trend very carefully when we think about climate change and sustainable development. Another thing is like Africa, for example, in Kenya, for me, we have everything we need. We don't need all these GMO's. All we need is train farmers. We have everything. We have the climate and we have water. We can be able to train our farmers and give them the food to yield.

Education and Sustainable Development in Africa

We can. We get our meat here, we get our grains there, we get our fish there. From each county. There's something that we can get. But how are we trained? We have to reform our education system. We have to train people how to take care of the community. For example, in everybody's being told that, you know what, you can just go to school and you're going to get a job. Being a farmer is not something that's celebrated. It's starting to be right now because people realizing that food is really important, I think. So we have to really trend carefully. And right now, anytime you hear the government is talking, all they're talking about is sustainable development without really defining that term. And sustainable development simply means that we meet the present. We meet the needs of the present generation without compromising the needs of the future generation. But this is actually turning to be opposite. We are compromising the need of and hindering the need of the present generation and further hindering the need of the future generation by the policies that are being implemented because they are not sustainable.

Critique on Current Funding and Agricultural Policies

If you look at it and it looks good on paper, but if to apply it on the ground, it's not going to stick. Thank you. Thank you very much, Ruby. Linda, please chime in. I think somebody mentioned about Kenya is about to receive funds. I think my question is from where? And I'll kind of give time. If you could add brief scope to kind of chime his comment on agriculture, because he's well versed on that topic. I will kind of leave that space for him. Thank you, Linda. I think Abdi asked so many questions, so maybe they can also be answered. Definitely the questions are coming from the comments. Abdi, could you read the second one? Then we can have a brief scope and doctor Jackson answering. So this he's asking on. The government has made efforts to improve food security through various initiatives. What do you think are the main gaps in these efforts? How can they be addressed? How can we improve effectiveness of irrigation schemes, infrastructure projects to reduce dependency on rain fed agriculture?