Kenya Red Cross distributes relief food to hunger-stricken residents

The Kenya Red cross society has rolled out a food distribution exercise in Marsabit county where three-quarters of the county's population is facing food shortages due to prolonged drought.

The relief food amounting to millions of money includes maize flour, beans, cooking oil and salts which will last for at least three weeks.

Each of the 1,080 families that benefitted from food distribution will get 25 kgs of maize flour, 5kgs of beans, 1 litre of cooking oil and 1 kgs of salt.

The region that benefitted includes Moite in Loiyangalani, Korr, North Horr and Lataka.

Kenya Red Cross in charge Sabdio Galgallo said expectant mothers and children below five years are the most affected by food shortages in the county.

"The health of expectant mothers and children below five years has been affected," she said

She said the ongoing drought is a disaster that will only be resolved with a concerted effort.

He said there is a needs to find ways in which to support the affected population.

She added that her organization gives priority to the villages which are hard hit.

She said there was a need to rehabilitate critical water facilities like dams and boreholes for all stakeholders and help secure livelihoods and reduce the suffering of the people adding that the situation calls for urgent action in order to save lives.

While presiding over food distribution in Lataka, Deputy Governor Solomon Gubo Riwe said many livestock have died and those still alive are very weak Making it difficult for the owners to get a market for sales.

He said the county government and the partners have done several interventions but the adverse effects of drought continue to affect people and their animals.

He appealed to well-wishers to support thousands of people affected by drought, said the elderly, expectant mothers and children below five years were the worst hit.

The Deputy County boss assured citizens that nobody would die due to prolonged drought in the county as intervention measures have already been made.

County secretary Ibrahim Adan Sora said the current drought worsened the situation as many households can't afford to put food on the table.

He said the government was committed to addressing the needs of its citizens suffering as a result of the drought.

He appealed to well-wishers and donors to donate food to supplement government efforts in a bid to meet the needs of the people faced with starvation in the county.

Guyo Galgallo, a resident of Lataka said the food donations are not enough to meet their demands and ask for more supplies.

" We need more help. We share this food with those who don't have it. We need a quantity of food and the number of beneficiaries to increase." he said

Agudo Doyo, a pastoralist from Ethiopia said they scramble for scarce water at the water pan as others dried up.

She said the pan which is three kilometres away forced them to walk for a distance to fetch it even though they are not sure of getting it.

Diba Bagajo said the relief food brought by the Kenya Red cross will help them because they have not been harvested for the last four seasons.

He called on the government and well-wishers to distribute more food to keep residents from hunger.

"We appeal for more support. Many families are sleeping hungry and we lost all of our livestock to drought," he said.

Diba said his family ran out of food before the county government supplied relief food and are now banking on food aid to survive.

More than 650 people living at the border left their settlements and camped in the area of Lataka after they lost their livestock.

There were fairs of the outbreak of the disease in their new settlement as there is no toilet one can use.

Last week Governor Mohamud met with the world food program coordinator in Kenya and shared the plight of pastoralists from neighbouring Ethiopia who camped in Lataka areas after they lost all their animals to drought and asked for their support.