Marsabit CEC member leads food distribution exercise in Laisamis

About 1,000 families in the Laisamis ward on Thursday benefitted from relief food supplies from the Marsabit county government in an effort to combat the effects of drought.

The country's food distribution that supplements the ongoing water trucking comprised Rice and cooking oil.

It is expected to reach 20,000 vulnerable households in the county and each beneficiary is set to receive 25 KGS of rice and two litres of cooking oil.

The food support drive comes in the wake of a severe drought situation in the county which has left thousands of residents alongside other millions of Kenyans staring at possible starvation.

Over time, vulnerable people in both urban and rural areas in need of support during drought periods have grown.

The situation was aggravated by five successive failed rain seasons.

While presiding over food distribution in Laisamis, CECM Administration coordination of county Affairs and ICT Mr Armara Galwab said Governor Mohamud-led administration, through ward administrators and village elders, made an assessment and mapped out the most vulnerable members of the communities in each ward.

He called for more support to save the lives of the people and urged the National government, Non-governmental organisations and other development partners to support needy people in the county.

"We have not witnessed a drought situation like this before in our county. We ask for support from state and non-state actors in containing the situation," he said

He lamented that the situation across the county was dire with communities battling their own hunger and that of their animals and the long drought has affected the county's economy and left pastoralists to lose their livestock in the dry period.

"It is a battle for survival for both human beings and animals. It calls for urgent measures as we face a situation where we could lose people due to starvation," said the county secretary

Apart from scaling up the relief food distribution exercise, the CECM Administration said the government will also be looking into other mitigation measures as long-term solutions.

He cautioned the beneficiaries against selling the relief food saying they will monitor them and asked them to use it prudently so that it can push for a longer time.

He sent out a strong warning to unscrupulous individuals who divert relief food for personal gain while promising a transparent and unified process of relief food distribution to ensure that every grain of relief food benefits deserving beneficiaries.

Armara said Governor Mohamud was touched by the suffering of hunger-stricken residents in the county and bought food to help them.

He promised that the county government will continue offering support until the onset of rains, saying under Governor Mohamud's administration no person will die of hunger.

Naamiin Jufley, a beneficiary could not hide her joy saying the donation will help her family since she has been struggling to put food on the table.

Peter Solomaat, another beneficiary said that the food donation would really help him and his family since he has no job to feed them.

Lelai Ubanne hailed the county government for the supplies saying the rations were a relief to him and his family.

Karo Dabaleen, a single mother of five children thanked the governor for relief food distribution saying it would help reduce the high cost of living and food deficit due to drought.

The countywide emergency relief food that was officially launched by Governor Mohamud Ali on Tuesday aims at assisting households that are affected by the ravaging long drought across the four sub-counties.