KENYA: Aid agencies and government officials in Kenya responded with outrage yesterday to an offer of dog-food mix to help feed the country's starving children.
A New Zealand petfood-maker is offering an emergency shipment of powdered dog biscuits for the drought-stricken country where four million people need aid to avoid starvation.
Christine Drummond, founder of Mighty Mix, said she was planning to send 42 tons of the dried meat and seed mix which could be used to support 160 orphans for two months.
However, government officials dismissed the offer. Alfred Mutua, government spokesman, said the idea was naïve. "We appreciate when people are willing to help us, but they should be sensitive about our culture," he said.
"Telling us you are giving us food for dogs in our culture is an insult of the highest order."
Health officials said animal food would not be allowed into the country if it was destined for human consumption.
Aid agencies joined in the condemnation. Brendan Cox, a spokesman for Oxfam in Kenya, said: "Leaving aside the appropriateness of sending dog food to children, Kenya actually has enough food to feed itself. The money on offer would make more of a difference if it were spent in the country transporting food from the fertile areas to those in need."
Ms Drummond defended her idea in the New Zealand media, saying that she even eats the mixture herself, sprinkling it on porridge as a morning pick-me-up.
The biscuits are made from dried meats - such as mutton, beef and pork - as well as flax seeds, eggs and garlic.
A severe drought has taken 11 million to the brink of famine in the Horn of Africa.
Several years of poor rains have had a devastating effect on harvests in a part of the world where disease and conflict mean hunger can take a huge toll.
Kenya declared a national disaster at the end of last year amid forecasts that rains due next month would also fail.