Give us Food, Not Condoms

In a country whose annual budgetary allocation falls at a deficit, with economic hardship and financial turmoil hitting hard on the majority, with hunger and diseases crippling many in the poor societies and political instability haunting the leaders — nevertheless the government is working tenaciously to take care of its citizens under all odds and ends. And one way is by providing millions of condoms for the needy, especially the young generation and sexually active clique. This is under one of the many HIV/Aids initiatives and prevention campaigns which have lately gained a positive momentum in the country. It is alongside this obligation that the government of Kenya has made an emergency request from United Nations Population Fund to purchase 100 million male condoms and additional 1.8 million female condoms to meet the high demand. According to the Ministry of Public Health and Sanitation, the condom use has recently increased from 10million to 15 million pieces per month.

But this doesn’t go down well with hungry Kenyans who want food instead of condoms. “We need food not condoms” comments one Mr. Ongojo. He wonders which hungry person will even think of sex in the first place. “Will a poor hungry person buy a packet of maize floor or a packet of condom?” he asks. “Sex is a luxury, let the government buy food for the suffering Kenyans” said Muchemi. Kenyans are calling on the government to diverge that kind of money to more useful and better economic projects. They feel sex life is a personal affair. It requires individual responsibility and it’s not a priority, especially within a government crowded with so many criticisms, almost crumbling after the last disputed general elections. “It is pointless and so unfortunate talking of buying millions of condoms while we can’t even feed our children in schools”, said Mr. Waweru Njoroge. Many of the school feeding programs have since collapsed because of the current food shortage situation in the country, and the government is talking about buying condoms, “for what?-and for who?” he wonders. “Any one who can afford sex can as well afford to take care of him/her self”, observes Waweru.

More than 3 million Kenyans are in daring need of food. The country has experienced a long spell of drought due to poor or no rainfall for many seasons. Other factors connected to the country’s post-election violence last year also contributes to the suffering of many Kenyans. Tones of food were destroyed and burnt down during the skirmishes and many farmers chased away from their farming land, many are still languishing in IDP camps not yet re-settled. On January, President Mwai Kibaki led Kenyan leaders in declaring famine a national disaster in the country and called on all players in the development partners, business and international communities to join efforts in saving people from dying of hunger. He launched a campaign to raise 37 billion shillings ($ 472m) to address the so desperate situation. “Give us food, we can abstain from sex, a hungry nation is as lazy as dead” soi.nicholas@gmail.com