By Justus Ndambiri
Kenyan pop band, Elani have finally released a video to their song, “Mahindi”, which seeks to address the rise in food insecurity in the country. Through the song, the band tells Kenyans not to keep mum about the pending predicament. In the video, a Toyota land cruiser is seen steering into a crowd of people and later a man is seen emerging at the top. The man, who now has the attention of the people, reaches out and pulls out a bag of maize. The people ruthlessly claw at each other, and grumble, trying to get the bag of maize. We are all well aware of such an altercation: broken bones, deeply bruised persons just to mention but a few. The scene is, as you would have guessed, gruesomely disturbing.
In a press statement released early this week, specifically on Tuesday the bad members (Maureen Kunga, Bryan Chweya and Wambui Ngugi) come out strongly and aggressively, putting it out there that food insecurity is a national disaster that needs the necessary kind of attention and measures in order to eradicate it. “Mahindi” is part “Barua ya Dunia”, which is Elani’s debut album.
In the Kenya National Food and Nutritional Policy (2012), more than 10 million Kenyans suffer from catastrophic food insecurity and thus undoubtedly, retarded nutrition. 2-4 million Kenyans are in need of food aid at any second of time. It is MELANCHOLIC!!!