Nairobi, Kenya, Nov 12 – A section of leaders from the Northern region have called on the government agencies to fast-track the current intervention measures in place to mitigate the effects of the ravaging drought in some parts of the country.
Speaking in Nairobi Friday, the leaders drawn from the Pastoral Parliamentary Group caucus, expressed concern over the slow response by Cabinet Secretaries tasked with leading intervention programs since the government declared drought a national disaster.
Garissa Township Member of Parliament Aden Duale appealed to the government to upscale its efforts in a bid to address the humanitarian crises in the affected areas.
“As leaders we feel that the huge allocation done by government and the progress of the intervention on the ground are not in tandem; that its not moving as fast as its supposed to be,” Duale said.
Duale further said that the situation on the ground is dire as a result of failed rains adding that the situation could worsen in future going by forecasts from the weather agency.
He added that members of the caucus had agreed to meet the respective Cabinet Secretaries from different ministries to discuss the way forward.
“This an appeal not only to the government of Kenya but to the international community; the UN, the US, UK, and European Union who are already doing substantial work in terms of interventions. We are unique because our region is facing a serious humanitarian crisis,” he added.
Samburu North MP Alois Lentoimaga stated that the impact of the funds released towards drought intervention had not being felt on the grassroots.
“The money that was released by treasury to different ministries is not being realized on the ground, it appears like there is a bureaucracy since it is too slow and yet we see drought continuing to get worse,” he stated.
Lentoimaga stated that they were witnessing loss of livestock, increased malnutrition among the young people and the elderly and experiencing water shortages in some parts of the country as a result of the biting drought
“In all those affected areas, people including children and women have been forced to trek for 20 – 50 kilometres in search of water which we fear could result to school closures anytime from now,” Lentoimaga added.
He called on the government to find ways of ensuring food aid reach the affected people in the far-flung areas.
The lawmaker added that the move by government to register people for cash transfers was not working adding that they are yet to register beneficiaries for the program.
“It will take another three to four months to register people, there are no banks in these areas. On the interim, until all people are registered, let us supply food, hay and quick livestock offtake so that pastoralist get money in their pocket to support them,” he added.
Eldas MP Adan Keynan called on the involved agencies to urgently move to the ground to address the issue which he said had led to the suffering of people in the pastoral areas.
“If the president declared drought a national disaster and money given out towards intervention, I think the concerned agencies should take responsibility and go to the ground to help the Wananchi.”
The ongoing drought has exposed over 2 million people in the country to hunger, a situation which has been compounded by failed rains and locust invasion.
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