Garissa MP Dekow Mohamed has appealed to President William Ruto to declare drought a national disaster.
Dekow said by doing so would allow the country to get help from across the world.
“We are currently faced with a very serious drought because the rains failed for the last four consecutive seasons. In December what we received was very little and left very little impact on the ground,” he said.
“We humbly ask the president who understands how dire the situation is, to do the necessary and declare the drought a national disaster. The earlier he does that the better.”
The MP spoke in Iftin during a food distribution exercise for vulnerable households courtesy of the KCB, where 250 households benefited.
The food comprised cooking oil, rice, sugar and maize floor.
Dekow joins leaders from Northeastern who have also been calling on President Ruto to declare the drought a national disaster saying 5.5 million people are already affected.
He acknowledged that the government and other non-actors were doing their best but more needed to be done.
The MP called on those charged with the responsibility of distributing relief food to always include township residents in their programs saying that they are equally affected.
“There is a misconception that those residing in urban areas are not affected by this drought. We have a very big population, especially those who reside outside the town who are equally affected," he said.
"The poverty levels are extremely high. We have people, who are refugees who move from the rural villages to town just to escape drought.”
Garissa deputy county commissioner Solomon Chesut said that most who needed relief food were those who had moved from the rural villages after they lost all their animals to drought.
Chesut said the government was closely monitoring the situation saying all the mapping is there and those will always be the first to be considered during relief food distribution.
He said all efforts were being made to ensure that food aid gets to all deserving Kenyans.
