Njaa Revolution

What is the Njaa Revolution Campaign?

NJAA Revolution is a campaign geared towards cushioning the common Mwananchi from the untenable high cost of basic commodities, such as maize flour, cooking oil, cooking gas, sugar, rice, wheat and other foodstuff. The NJAA Revolution campaign aims at ensuring the majority of the citizens of Kenya have access to the basics in order to attain an acceptable standard of living and a dignified life. 

In order to achieve this, the campaign seeks to use all possible channels to ensure that the government fulfils its mandate and guarantees all Kenyans access to their socio-economic rights as per Article 43 of the Constitution of Kenya (2010) and that members of the public are made aware of their responsibility in pushing for these rights.

Background

Many Kenyans continue to lack access to adequate food, having more than 35% of Kenyans suffering from food inaccessibility and malnutrition each year, with 2.6 million facing a food insecurity crisis.

In February 2022, the Kenya Food Security Steering Group’s annual Short Rains Assessment reported that there are around 3.1 million food-insecure people in pastoral and marginal agricultural areas, a 48% increase since August 2021. As we speak, Kenya has endured its worst drought in 40 years, according to the government and the UN. More than 4 million people cannot access enough food, and 3.3 million cannot get enough water to drink. Kenya ranks 86 out of 117 countries on the 2019 Global Hunger Index.

Within our informal settlements and urban dwellings, the negativities of inequality continue to be felt. According to research by the African Population and Health Research Centre, 80% of slum residents are food insecure, which partly explains the high malnutrition rates of close to 50% among children. Slum residents account for more than 60% of Nairobi’s population. Further, more than 13 million Kenyans suffer from chronic food and nutrition insecurity, according to SOFI, a publication of the Food and Agriculture Organization. One quarter of the children in Kenya are stunted. 

The majority of the residents of Nairobi County and Kenya in general are unable to access clean fresh water and proper sanitation. 15% of Kenyans rely on unimproved water sources, such as ponds, shallow wells and rivers, while 41% of Kenyans lack access to basic sanitation solutions.

In Kenya, according to UNICEF, 9.9 million people drink directly from contaminated surface water sources and an estimated 5 million people practice open defecation. Only 25% have hand-washing facilities with soap and water at home. 

65% of women and girls in Kenya are unable to afford and access sanitary pads. Kenyans are further unable to access arable land, and many Kenyans have been alienated from their land illegally. The present economic system continues to degrade the environment massively, with climate change threatening the very existence of human life on earth. 

The gap between the richest and poorest has reached extreme levels in Kenya. Less than 0.1% of the population (8,300 people) own more wealth than the bottom 99.9% (more than 48 million people). The richest 10% of people in Kenya earned on average 23 times more than the poorest 10%.

President William Ruto, during his inaugural address on the 13th of September 2022, outlined his new government’s plan to only subsidize production, not consumption. This would mean lower costs of production for the producers and business owners. However, often, this would not necessarily result in a proportionate decrease in the prices of the end product. Clearly, therefore, the new government has not committed itself to effectively lowering the prices of food and basic commodities. It is for this reason that the NJAA Revolution Campaign seeks to further push the government and state actors to fulfil their mandate as required by the Constitution. 

What are the demands and objectives of the NJAA Revolution Campaign?

The NJAA Revolution Campaign pushes for; 

1. Immediate lowering of prices of food and other basic commodities, and the implementation of the Mwananchi Budget as follows;

• Maize flour – KES 60; 
• Milk – KES 40(500 ml); 
• Bread – KES 45 (400 g); 
• Cooking Gas – KES 800 (6kg), KES 1200 (13kg); 
• Petrol – KES 90 (1 litre); 
• Diesel – KES 80 (1 litre); 
• Kerosene – KES 70 (1 litre); 
• Sugar – KES 70 (1 kg); 

1. Immediate scrap-off of increased taxes on fuel and other items.
2. Access to free and quality healthcare for everyone.
3. Provision of clean water for everyone.
4. Provision of decent housing for everyone.
5. Equitable access to jobs for everyone, and an end to mass unemployment.

We see the push for these demands as a wake-up call for all the people of Kenya, hence we intend to use the NJAA Revolution Campaign to urge the government to;

• Set up more expansive and inclusive social protection measures ensuring everyone’s right to social security.
• Spend on protecting socio-economic rights and food sovereignty instead of abusive austerity.
• Ensure equitable access to employment to all without any form of discrimination. 
• Uphold human rights standards by respecting, protecting and fully implementing the constitution, more specifically article 43, and placing social and environmental safeguards.
• Adopt heightened transparency and accountability standards in leadership & governance. 
• Scrutinize corruption practices at all levels of government to commensurate with the heighted risk of embezzlement and misappropriation of funds.
• Calling for transformational change in the society and opening opportunities to re-strategize on how to organize and govern our society to be better and more sustainable and equitable future.

We reiterate that it is time to examine alternative policies that bring forth bold and innovative ways to economically extricate our society.

As we advocate for the implementation of article 43 of the Constitution by those in governance, we aim to enlighten the community on these rights as enshrined in the constitution through conducting public sensitization and awareness campaigns on socio-economic rights through;

• Capacity Building Trainings of HRDs and the community to improve their knowledge on International Socio-economic rights, Food Sovereignty, international policies on innovative technological farming, Pros & Cons of genetically modified seeds & crops and possible remedies. 
• Research and surveys.
• People’s Assemblies.
• Community Radio talk shows on Food Sovereignty, social and economic rights. 
• Stakeholders’ engagement forums.
• Community dialogues.
• Social media Advocacy. 
• Documentaries / films.
• Citizen Advocacy. 
• Community outreach.
• Publications and report writings on social and economic rights.

Action Plan

The NJAA Revolution Campaign developed a petition to push for the adoption of our demands by the National Assembly. We organized a march to Parliament and later on to the office of the President to deliver our petitions.

With the lifting of the ban on GMOs and the worsened cost of living, online campaigns, processions, protests and other forms of mass action to push for the right to food are going to be supplemented by stakeholders’ engagements, community dialogues and forums.  

We plan to be more practical on the issue of GMOs. We must keep the discussion around GMOs alive in the community by having more online campaigns, dialogues, debates and awareness of the effects of GMOs if not well regulated and guided. We will use community radios and television stations to amplify the voices of the community and reach more members of the community.  

We will also stimulate more collaborations with the community and other like-minded partners to push the agenda on seed and food sovereignty by indulging in and nurturing urban farming and, using our Social Justice centers in urban areas, practicing organic farming.  

We will use our food sovereignty campaign to empower the community to own and promote food sovereignty and also urge the government and other state holders to adapt the policies that we will have developed through our engagements with the community, partners and stakeholders to promote food sovereignty.  

We plan to have trainings, exhibitions seminars and benchmarking sessions not just on the effects of GMOs but also on organic farming to promote food sovereignty by using our Social Justice centers in rural areas, and urban farming in urban areas where we plan to practice organic farming.