20,000 Garissa families to get county relief food

The Garissa government has launched a food distribution programme to cushion residents against the effects of drought.

Finance executive Issa Oyow, who launched the exercise in Fafi on Wednesday, said the one-week distribution targets all vulnerable households identified as beneficiaries in the subcounties.

He said the county was determined to reach out to all the targeted households adding that by the end of the exercise at least 20,000 families will have benefited.

Oyow said despite some roads being rendered impassable due to the short rains, the county will do all it can to make sure that the consignment gets to the intended families.

The overall county food security situation is at a crisis due to failed rains.

The short rains have not been enough for a community which largely depends on livestock keeping.

At least 14,514 cases of malnutrition of children under five have been reported in Garissa county, a November report by the Drought Management Authority shows.

The authority says if quick interventions are not put in place, the lives of the children are at risk.

At least 168,000 people in Garissa county are facing starvation while most children are going to school on an empty stomach.

The report presented to the county steering group indicates that the severely affected areas include Lagdera, Ijara, Dadaab and Holugho.

“The drought situation has wrecked havoc to not only our livestock which has died in numbers, but also affected human beings.

"Many families are unable to afford a three square meal. It is for this reason that as a county we have decided to provide the necessary assistance to these families,” Oyow said.

The executive said the county will continue doing water trucking to settlements which have not received enough rains and don’t have enough boreholes.

The religious department led by the director of Religious affairs Sheikh Mohamed Yakub Dabar and subcounty administrators were tasked to deliver the assorted food stuffs to all subcounties.

Lagdera administrator Mohamed Sambul Hassan was on Wednesday coordinating the distribution exercise at Darsalam, Afweyne, Maalimin and Jilango.

He said 16 centers in the subcounty that were yet to get reliable rainfall and others facing food supply crisis due to the rain were prioritised in the exercise.

Kamuthey Warable, Nadhir and Nanighi in Fafi are some of the centers that received food supplies. The exercise will be extended to Balambala, Daadab, Ijara and Holugho.

Experts have said the drought situation in Kenya could turn into an emergency should the country fail to receive enough rain in the month of December.

The food security and nutrition situations are likely to worsen, requiring the need to expand humanitarian assistance and interventions.

According to the NDMA, 23 counties are at risk of being food-insecure.

(Edited by Bilha Makokha)