Throughout 2011, Kenyans have faced the strain of rising food and fuel prices. According to the UN Food and Agricultural Organization, late and erratic rainfall led to an estimated 3.75 million people across the country becoming food-insecure. The World Bank's Food Price Watch report states that the price of maize rose by 43 percent globally between September 2010 and September 2011.
Particularly affected were those living in Kenya's urban areas, especially slum-dwellers. "Things have become so expensive, people are not even able to buy vegetables," said Joash Otieno, a resident of Mathare, one of Nairobi's slums. "Those who live in Mathare and other slums earn very low incomes," he added.
The rising prices and inflation prompted the creation of a movement led by a grassroots civil society group, Bunge la Mwananchi, or The People's Parliament. It staged demonstrations throughout the year to pressurize the Kenyan government to bring down the price of unga, or maize flour, from Ksh120 (US$1.40) a kilo, to KSh30 ($0.34).
IRIN's latest film, Kenya's Unga Revolution, follows one of Bunge la Mwananchi's activists, Emily Kwamboka, as she takes to the streets to demand change in the lives of ordinary Kenyans. "It's high time people wake up. We need masses in this struggle. This is a fight that can't be fought by just one or two people," she told IRIN.
This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions
