According to the Government, Kilifi is the worst hit by the drought followed by Kwale, Tana River and Taita Taveta counties in the Coastal region/FILE
NAIROBI, Kenya, Oct 14 – The Government has constituted an inter-ministerial team in a move to mitigate the ongoing drought that is facing 1.3 people in Arid and Semi-Arid areas in the country.
The relevant ministries that will be involved in this team include the National Treasury, Interior and National Coordination, Devolution and Planning, Health Education, Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries and Environment and Natural Resources and Ministry of Water and Irrigation.
According to the Government, Kilifi is the worst hit by the drought followed by Kwale, Tana River and Taita Taveta counties in the Coastal region.
Other counties include Garissa, Wajir, Mandera, Isiolo, Marsabit, Makueni , Kitui and Samburu.
In a joint statement on Friday, Devolution Cabinet Secretary Mwangi Kiunjuri together with his counterpart in the Treasury Henry Rotich revealed that already Sh250 million has been released to the State Department of Special programmes for emergency relief food.
“We would like to assure all Kenyans that the Government is on top of this situation and shall ensure that the necessary help reaches the most needy,” he assured.
The team will be tasked with identifying and scaling up investment in the medium and long term resilience building interventions, “to avoid recurrence of food insecurity and loss of livelihood as a result of drought.”
“The National Government will quickly reach-out to County Governments to take up similar initiatives.”
So far, CS Devolution says since July, the Ministry has released Sh54 million to support intervention gaps in livestock, education, water, health and nutrition and conflict management in the affected counties.
“Our monitoring teams on the ground are alert and we invite you to work constructively with them to forward information that will ensure that no single Kenyan suffers the ravages of drought,” the CS appealed.
The situation has however improved according to the CS, who points out that the number of people facing drought has reduced from 2.5 million people last year to 1.3 million people this year.
The Devolution Ministry has this month alone dispatched 3,500 (90kg) bags of maize, 2,700 (50Kgs) bags of beans, 10,000 (50Kg) bags of rice and 1,000 cartons of vegetable oil.
The Ministry of Water has mobilized 20 bowsers for emergency water supply in the most affected areas.
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