Defense Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale says said that the government has so far spent Kshs. 13 billion to purchase and distribute relief food for Kenyans affected by the biting drought currently witnessed in parts of the country.
The latest report by Kenya Food Security Steering Group shows that the number of Kenyans affected by drought and hunger has risen from 4.2 million to 6 million.
Duale, who spoke at ADC, Galbet ward in Garissa Township Sub-County, where he led a food distribution exercise, said that while the number of those in need of food aid continues to rise, the government will ensure that no citizen dies from hunger.
He warned that action will be taken against any officer diverting the much-needed food elsewhere.
“We want this food to reach everyone who is suffering and we will not allow those who sell and transport relief food or those who supervise the distribution exercises to the most vulnerable members of our society to play with this food,” Duale warned while flanked by Garissa County Commissioner Boaz Cherutich, County Security Committee Members, officials from the National Drought Management Authority (NDMA) and a number of MCAs.
“We have experienced low rainfalls in the last few years and it is not in Garissa only. Even places where we used to experience enough rains are becoming dryland. But we hope and pray that the Almighty God will ease our suffering by blessing us with rain.”
New Garissa Township Member of Parliament Dekow Mohamed said that there is need to consider distributing more relief food in the town where more people who lost their livestock to drought have migrated to.
“We have a problem here because other sub-counties are considered while the township is left out in food distribution programmes. We are the most affected because people have migrated here and need this relief food too,” Dekow said.
The MP further urged the county government to fast track the process of finding more permanent water solutions so that every citizen in the county can have access to clean water for both domestic use and for livestock.
According to the National Drought Management Authority, at least 509,000 people are facing acute starvation in Garissa county.
The NDMA in conjunction with the County government is currently conducting water tracking to affected areas, and school feeding programmes to help keep children in school, while a section of Non-Governmental Organizations and well-wishers are conducting cash transfers to the vulnerable.
The NDMA in its January 2023 bulletin paints a worrying picture in 23 counties that have been classified as either in the alarm or alert phase of the drought.
Counties on the alarm phase include kilifi, Mandera Marsabit Samburu, Turkana Wajir, Isiolo, Kitui and Kajiado.
13 counties that include Garissa ,Lamu, Narok, Tana river, Makueni, Tharaka Nithi, Baringo,Laikipia, Meru, Taita Taveta, westpokot, Nyeri and Kwale are in the alert drought phase.
Last week Rebecca Miano, the CS for East African Community, Arid and Semi-Arid Lands (ASALs), and Regional Development while speaking in Wajir when she led a second phase of food distribution said that her ministry was working closely with the Ministry of Interior to make sure that relief assistance reaches the intended people.
In Marsabit County, the Child Welfare Society of Kenya has ramped food distribution in an exercise that targets 24,000 children.
