Unga

Kenyan word for flour, and a slogan for the country’s hungry and dispossessed.

Discussing growing public antipathy toward Kenya’s fragile coalition government, Andrew Cawthorne wrote for Reuters:

For now, Kenya’s common people, or “wanainchi” as they call themselves in Swahili, are using all means possible to plead for more responsible government.

“We took up arms and shed our blood so you can gain power,” goes one new song called “Unga” — the word for flour which has become something of a rallying cry for the poor.

“Once you fill your stomachs, you mock us and call us fools. We cannot watch our children starve while yours eat … It is no laughing matter … Someone please do something before it is too late.”

These lyrics have dual significance in a country where “eating” is aeuphemism for corruption, and where some 10 million people face food shortages.

Attempts by the Kenyan government to alleviate the crisis have been marred by scandal. In January 2009, Prime Minister Raila Odinga admitted that maize had been smuggled into Sudan (flouting an export ban). And, in February, The Daily Nation reported that subsidized flour supplies still hadn’t reached most of the country – two months after the government launched its subsidy program:

The President [Mwai Kibaki], who was met by shouts of ‘Unga, Unga’ (flour) by a section of the crowd, acknowledged many people were facing hunger but said maize flour would soon start trading at affordable prices.