Jarajila Ward MCA Noor Sheikh Farah has called on the Garissa county government to make concerted efforts towards drought mitigation, as thousands of residents and livestock remain in dire need of relief food.
According to the National Drought Management Authority, by January this year at least 185,400 people were in a grim situation, needing humanitarian assistance.
Speaking during a press briefing at the assembly premises, the MCA lamented that despite passing budgets in the millions for disaster response over the years, the county government had done little to nothing during disasters such as droughts and floods to help residents.
Farah noted that most other counties in the region were making concerted efforts, including distributing relief food and water trucking in collaboration with other donors, but that nothing similar was happening in Garissa, leaving thousands of people helpless.
He said that most MCAs had been forced to chip in from their own pockets to help residents in need of relief food.
“For the last two months, we have experienced severe drought, not only here in Garissa but also across the entire North Eastern region. The county government of Garissa has not given anything, even a single cent, to the affected people to help them in any way. For the four years of this assembly, we have been passing budgets in the millions towards drought mitigation efforts, and we have not seen a meaningful response to these disasters in terms of assistance,” Farah said.
“People are suffering, animals are dying, and we only pray to God that he gives us rain during this short season. In my ward, the boreholes and grazing areas, where there is little pasture, are more than 50 kilometres apart. It is hard for the livestock to move to the water points because they are weak,” he added.
According to Public Service, Human Capital Development and Special Programmes CS Geoffrey Ruku, at least 3.1 million Kenyans in 23 ASAL counties are in dire need of relief food, with the number expected to rise if the March–May short rains fail.
However, Ruku has assured that the government has enough relief food to ensure that no life is lost to hunger during the ongoing drought period.
