Current trends in development though important offer no consolation as we see projections of building mega cities but no plans on how the residents will be fed.
I love the word of God for it captures all concerns that man can have and gives appropriate and befitting answers to anyone who cares to peruse and study it.
In my last post I noted Nehemiah’s resolve to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem and in the pursuant order, after the rebuilding of the first section of the wall, i.e. the Sheep Gate by the High Priest Eliashib with his fellow priests which reinstated the need to set a foundation based on God, the second part of the wall to be rebuilt was the Fish Gate.
The Sheep Gate's signifies the importance of living food which is the Word of God, thus the priests. The rebuilding of the Fish Gate on the other hand signifies food security and evangelizing in spiritual circles.
A society that is not able to feed itself is a society that is deemed to have failed and if we are to be able to feed all our people, we have to be all inclusive in the work of creating good agricultural practises and systems otherwise we’ll be exposing them to what has now become a nagging and constant cycle of droughts.
For best management of this country, we should view Kenya as an entity and all attributes that contribute to its well being as we would a person. A fifty, Kenya should be able to produce its own food without reliance on rainfall patterns. Getting food aid from other countries should be viewed as going to eat at the neighbours and it should disturb us and propel us into solving the food issue once and for all.
I am particularly excited when I see some counties in our nation e.g. Homa Bay county which is deemed to be in the ‘opposition’ area from the government's view point declaring that they are creating an Agri-City and have sourced for investment partners for this project. The central government should support such endeavours and encourage other counties to do the same as part of its master plan to eradicate hunger.
The need for unity and inclusivity in tackling food issues affecting this nation is captured well when the Fish Gate was being rebuilt. It took the assistance from men who had been deemed to be in opposition to Nehemiah’s move but who later proved to be among the first to assist.
The men, Hassennah which means enemy and Meremoth which means bitterness were at the forefront in the rebuilding of this particular part of the wall and this teaches us is that political parties and political divisions are a fog that limits our vision. When we choose to see beyond political affiliations people work together and have great accomplishments.
We should, as citizens of this nation embrace each other regardless of tribe, political affiliation, monetary value, education or any other limiter so as to create a nation bound together in unity and which resolves its problems by inclusivity.
We the citizens also need to take the development of this nation as a personal endeavour and broaden our perspective on all issues affecting this nation and increase our participation on such aspects as food security. The encouragement is that the youth are embracing agriculture as a business venture and we have seen many reaping the benefits.
When reading the section on rebuilding the Fish Gate it should be interesting to note that although the Tekoites agreed to work with Nehemiah, their leaders did not.
