Governor Abdi urges residents to share resources as drought worsens

The drought situation in Wajir is slowly moving from the alarm phase to a crisis level with both humans and livestock at the brink of starvation.

Governor Mohamed Abdi has raised the alarm saying communities depend on livestock, which have been adversely affected by drought.

He spoke at Wajir stadium during the Madaraka Day celebrations on Wednesday.

Abdi said the government and leaders should not put their entire focus and resources on campaigns, at the expense of suffering residents and livestock.

The approximate Wajir livestock stands at camels (1,176,533), cattle (856,245), goats (3,198,284), and sheep (2,190,638).

The county boss said they must be taken care of by both state, non-state actors and well wishers.

The April assessment by the NDMA shows the county was at an alarm level with 80 per cent of livestock especially goats, sheep’s and cows affected.

The governor said it is for this reason that all stakeholders ought to continue the drought mitigation and response intervention, to cushion the communities from further loss.

He said the livestock sub-sector has a capacity to generate Sh8 billion annually in Wajir.

“It is our number one source of revenue. We continue to do all we can to ensure our animals don’t suffer and pastoralist don’t incur huge loses,” Abdi said.

The governor however said as a county, they can only do so much in terms of assistance, through water trucking and animals feeds due to limited resources. 

“This is why we are calling for continued support from the national government and other non-state actors," he said.  

The county has an influx of pastoralists, putting a strain on the scarce resources.

The National Drought Management Authority has said some regions are reporting tensions and confrontations between the new entrants and the host communities.  

The tensions stem from the control and use of the scarce natural resources concentrated in a small stretch of grazing land.

The governor however said some interventions have been made to reduce incidences of violence and promote peaceful coexistence among pastoral communities.

He said they have come up with modalities to share the scarce natural resources.

Abdi further said residents should be advocates of peace during this tough time of drought and election.

(Edited by Bilha Makokha)