NAIROBI, Kenya, Feb 19 – As the ravaging drought continue to bite, President William Ruto has said the government is working on reorganizing this year’s Supplementary budget to help in the drought relief efforts.
President Ruto revealed that the government has utilized more than Sh30 billion to cushion the more than 4 million people affected by the drought situation which has been termed as the worst in decades.
Speaking to Aljazeera in the sidelines of the Climate Change summit in Ethiopia, President Ruto explained that the biting drought has been exacerbated by the climate change globally.
“We are re-routing, reorganizing our budget as it is we have already spent more than Sh30 billion on feeding and accessing food for livestock as well as water tracking,” he stated.
“We are going to budget some more because the situation is not getting better, it’s getting worse,” he said.
Five months since he got into power, President Ruto indicated that his administration will halt development projects prioritized in the Education and Health sector to deal with the issue at hand.
“This year we are going to have the 5th consecutive year of failed rains, the phenomenal is not getting better, it’s getting worse. We have lost even wildlife,” the President said.
As it stands, Sh6 billion has been set aside in the latest Supplementary Budget to respond to the drought between February and May.
The amount will be supplemented by the private sector-led National Steering Committee on Drought Response that has so far raised Sh650 million.
However, the government is facing a deficit of more than Sh15.35 billion required for urgent life-saving interventions.
The number of Kenyans affected by drought is expected to hit six million by 2023 according to the latest projection by the National Drought Management Authority.
This, according to the authority, is due to the failed fifth rain season which has seen the drought situation.
Currently, nine arid and semi-arid (ASAL) counties namely; Kilifi, Mandera, Marsabit, Samburu, Turkana, Wajir, Isiolo, Kitui and Kajiado are in Alarm drought phase while 13 counties are in Alert drought phase.
These include Garissa, Lamu, Narok, Tana River, Makueni, Tharaka Nithi, Baringo, Laikipia, Meru, Taita Taveta, West Pokot, Nyeri and Kwale. Only Embu county is currently classified in Normal drought phase.
A report released by the National Drought and Management Authority (NDMA) indicating that about 6 million people in 32 counties are affected by the prolonged drought and acute malnutrition following a fifth consecutive poor rainfall season especially ASALs counties.
According to the report, over 970,000 children aged between six to nine months and 142,000 pregnant women are currently malnourished as the drought and food insecurity situation worsens in the country.
The report also indicated that the situation is likely to worsen further in the next 3 months as the prevailing drought persists with Turkana, Marsabit, Mandera, Wajir and Garissa counties likely to slide into Emergency Phase.
The population in crisis phase and even above could rise to about 5.4 million in ASALs counties alone by June this year depending on the performance of the March to May long rains season.
The report recommends that continued multi-sector response is required in the next six months to counter/halt the looming downturn.
