by ALLAN KISIA
Friday October 13, 2023
National Assembly Speaker Moses Wetangula.
Image: HANDOUT
Parliamentarians from 11 countries in Eastern Africa will converge in Nairobi for a regional meeting on Sunday to discuss ways of accelerating the fight against food insecurity and malnutrition.
The lawmakers, under the banner Eastern Africa Parliamentary Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition (EAPA FSN), will meet for the 5th General Assembly at the Mövenpick Hotel.
“Parliamentarians from Eastern Africa to confer on climate actions in light of food systems transformation,” a statement from EAPA FSN said.
While the Eastern Africa sub-region hosts less than 25 per cent of the sub-African population, it accounts for more than half of the food insecure and undernourished people on the continent.
Recent reports indicate that more than 134 million people (28 per cent of the global figure) are undernourished in the sub-region, where millions of children under the age of five are stunted.
In order to alleviate this gloomy reality, Members of Parliaments from ten Eastern African nations (Burundi, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Somalia, South Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda), the East Africa Community (EAC) and the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) launched EAPA FSN in 2019.
The goal of the alliance is to position food security and nutrition at the center of the political and legislative agenda.
“This year, the assembly will convene in Nairobi, Kenya to explore legal issues and key parliamentary actions to foster linkages between climate actions and food systems transformation in Eastern Africa,” EAPA FSN stated.
Members will take notes of lessons learnt and achievements registered by EAPA FSN in the past years of its operation.
Keynote speakers include Moses Wetang'ula, Speaker of the National Assembly of Kenya, Adan Haji Yusuf, EAPA FSN Chairperson and David Phiri, from the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations.
EAPA FSN held its fourth General Assembly in December in Kigali where members lamented the fact that the Eastern Africa sub-region was the global hotspot for high levels of food insecurity and malnutrition.
They urged national governments to intensify measures to alter this gloomy image.
Donatille Mukabalisa, Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies of Rwanda, underscored that the food security and nutrition situation of the region was concerning.
He said a lot could be done to improve the situation by rethinking the strategies and approaches countries employ towards agricultural development.