You May Not Agree With Ngilu, But She Has A Point

SATURDAY, 29 SEPTEMBER 2012 21:52 BY COLLINS MABINDA

There are those who view Charity Ngilu’s presidential bid as not serious enough. Some even allege that she is an ODM project. However, that is beside the point. In her slogan, ‘Ahadi tano, Miaka mitano’, she seeks to address the most important things she will do for the country once she becomes President.

Her most important promise is to Kenyan farmers. The truth is that farmers in Kenya have been short-changed. The famines that occur in the country are not as a result of lack of food, but as a result of failure of distribution. While there is maize rotting in the country’s bread basket, Trans-Nzoia, there is a consequent famine in northern parts of Kenya. There are middlemen sitting in Nairobi, waiting for the harvesting season in November, and then descend to agricultural towns to buy produce at throw away prices. The same problem seems to have crippled the once booming coffee sector, where middlemen in Nairobi control everything.

Perhaps, Ngilu might have to look elsewhere for solutions. When it comes to cutting middlemen off the equation, Ethiopia introduced the Ethiopian Commodity Exchange, where farmers' produce is exchanged as would shares of a company, the same way that shares are traded at the Nairobi Securities Exchange. When a farmer delivers his produce, he receives a share certificate, and upon trading of his commodity, he is given his money. The solution is two-fold. First, the farmer is assured of market for his produce, and secondly, he is assured of regular payments at the best possible price. Currently, ECX trades in such produce as maize, beans, wheat and other grains, but more produce are being added.

Secondly, she should market the Kenyan Coffee as an exclusively Kenyan product. In 2006, Ethiopia was engaged in a bitter dispute with the coffee giant, Starbucks, as regards to branding of its coffee. Ethiopia now exclusively brands its coffee, and when consumers around the world buy it, they know that it is coffee from Ethiopia. That way, the country gets much more money as opposed to just selling coffee beans, as Kenya does. Many times, Charity Ngilu isn’t convincing on her action plan, but regardless, the issues she raises are vital.