Jama calls for concerted efforts to mitigate drought

Garissa Governor Nathif Jama is appealing for immediate intervention measures for the ravaging drought.

He has appealed to development partners, donors and the national government to work together.

Jama said the immediate focus should be on life-saving interventions including water, food and retaining of children in schools.

He spoke on Wednesday after co-chairing the county steering committee with county commissioner Boaz Cherutich.

The drought has affected at least 23 counties after four consecutive seasons without rain.

President William Ruto said about 3.5 million Kenyans are severely affected in Garissa.

He spoke while flagging off a consignment of food to the affected regions two weeks ago.

Kenya Red Cross says 378,000 people are staring at starvation as the number continues to increase by day.

Jama said there is need for joint efforts by all players to cushion residents from the severe effects of drought.

“We are facing a terrible situation in terms of drought because we are at an alarming stage. We are working with the national government and other development partners to see how we can mitigate these effects,” he said.

The governor said his administration has been doing water trucking and supporting the running of boreholes with fuel and maintenance.

He said the county has committed to immediately release Sh40 million to buying water and food for affected households and school children.

Jama however raised concerns that many children in the county may miss the national examination set for November 28, due to hunger.

He appealed to partners to double their efforts.

The governor said the county teams will prioritise provision of water through water trucking and food distribution to the most vulnerable families.

He further called for proper coordination from different partners in mitigating drought.

He said a lot was being done but with little impact due to duplication of roles.

Cherutich said the small sub sector teams tasked with finding solutions for different issues will table their report for approval and forward it to Nairobi for budgetary allocations.

“We have identified the gaps that require immediate attention. We formed technical teams headed by sector heads to look into those issues and bring a report to be forwarded for action,” he said.

The commissioner said they have identified a technical team headed by sector heads who will go round and work out on the budgetary issues.

He said the report will be prepared to be approved by the co-chairs of the county steering group after which it will be forwarded to Nairobi for funding.

“We appreciate the work that our development partners are doing and we wish to appeal to them to double up the efforts. We have also noted the issue of duplication of services and a team will look into that so that it can be streamlined,” Cherutich said.

Last week, MPs from the region asked the President to declare the ongoing drought a national disaster, to allow them get help from across the region.

(Edited by Bilha Makokha)