Kenya's Elani fed up with food security inaction

The project kicked off last week with the release of a music video for the band's song 'Mahindi', which is Swahili for maize. The campaign aims to activate young people living in urban areas to play their part in food security. Elani hopes that by adding its name to the discussion it will change a narrative that has long been skewed by poor reporting and predatory politics.

The 'Mahindi' music video, which is central to the campaign, exposes the struggles of the malnourished Kenyan worker. According to Kenya’s National Food and Nutrition Security Policy of 2011, about 10 million Kenyans suffer from chronic food insecurity and poor nutrition. It is estimated that 2 to 4 million people require emergency food assistance at any given time. Nearly 30% of Kenyan children are undernourished and exibit micronutrient deficiencies. On the ground, however, the discussion is highly politicised and often used as fodder for political rhetoric. During elections, food aid is often used as voting bait, and once elected, officials do little to address the root cause of the problem.

“This is a conversation that needs to go beyond policy, leaders and politicians," Elani’s manager, Amani Maranga, told Music In Africa. "We need young people to speak out, educate themselves about food security and take action. Social solutions in Africa are political in nature but the problems we face transcend our political leaning. A hungry person is a hungry person, despite who they support. Young people need to reject divisive politics and focus on the issues.

“This is actually not a paid partnership. Our job is to bring the conversation to the table, because awareness leads to long-term solution. We are working on bringing fellow artists and opinion shapers onboard to give this issue the attention it deserves.”

Elani have always used their popularity to address various issues in Kenya. In 2016, under the hashtag #ElaniSpeaks, the band made a viral video protesting the state of royalty management in Kenya. That video started a chain reaction that went all the way to Parliament and played a critical role in demanding accountability in royalty distribution.

In the same year, the band also addressed domestic violence in 'Sirudi' alongside singer-turned-politician Jaguar.

“The single was actually written and released long before all the maize scandals made headlines," Elani member Maureen Kunga said about the band's latest campaign. "It’s really shocking that seven years down the line [since the song's initial release], nothing much has changed. In Kenya, food is grown about an hour’s drive from town yet people are hungry in the urban slums.

“We met Layla [Liebetrau] from Route to Food last year and in our conversation we realised that our visions were so aligned. Their alliance encourages ordinary people to use the resources at their disposal to take action on food security. It just so happened that we had a single from our first album that spoke to this very issue, so we made a video. If everyone does what they can to solve issues, soon we will run out of issues to solve.”

Liebetrau, who is the project lead at Route to Food said: “It's a perfect fit for us. Elani have taken this conversation to spaces that no one else could. They launched the song exclusively on Citizen TV’s entertainment show 10 Over 10 last week. Seeing young people engage with a socially conscious issue at 11pm on a Friday night was simply mind-blowing.

“Route to Food began about three years ago and our focus is advocacy. Food security has gotten a lot of lip service from the government but we haven’t seen action. We are really excited about Elani’s involvement. Their voice is a big contribution to our alliance.”