- Former Saku MP aspirant Adan Wario said the situation is dire in most parts of the constituency, hence the need for urgent intervention to save lives.
- "I'm calling on the national, county government and humanitarian agencies to help our people who are in need of support," he said.a
Image: ABDIKADIR CHARI
The government has been urged to continue providing relief food to starving residents of the Saku constituency in Marsabit county.
Former Saku MP aspirant Adan Wario said the situation is dire in most parts of the constituency, hence the need for urgent intervention to save lives.
" I'm calling on the national, county government and humanitarian agencies to help our people who are in need of support," he said
He said the drought that has ravaged the county has been devastating, leaving families in desperate situations.
Women, children and elderly are the most affected by the dry spell.
Their livestock which is the only main source of livelihood has severely been affected.
While transversing the constituency to supply water, he appealed to people of goodwill to join hands and support affected families in the region.
He termed the current famine being experienced in the area as the worst ever happened in a decade adding that locals who were lucky survived on a one-day meal.
He said parents with children in school have been equally hit by hunger and have no water and food, urging the state and well-wishers to provide food and water to salvage the situation.
The former administrator expressed concern over the drying of water sources which had left an increasing number of people facing starvation.
"There is completely no water in the region as all water points have dried up. The situation is worsening and there is a need for the government to urgently intervene," he said
Mr Adan said the region has not received rain in five consecutive seasons expressing fears that they might lose lives if the situation continues.
"The situation on the ground is worse and we ask for a quick intervention to avert a looming disaster," he said.
He said challenges of water and food in the area have contributed to school dropout because many school children abandon learning and go out looking for water, thus affecting school enrollment and pupil retention in classrooms.
Image: ABDIKADIR CHARI
Several beneficiaries expressed their happiness with the help they got which contributed to alleviating their suffering related to lack of water.
Guyo Sora praised the former administrator for coming to their aid saying he already lost all of his livestock to drought and the only remaining ones can not get out of the shed due to lack of strength.
He appealed to the government to scale up relief distribution to avert a looming humanitarian crisis due to famine.
He claimed that the area had not had rains for the last five years, resulting in crop failures and acute water shortages and urged the government and well-wishers to move swiftly to avert the crisis.
Daku Molu, an expectant mother from Goro Rukesa said the drought situation is worsening daily making the water supplied to them by the county government and non-state actors inadequate.
While queuing for water brought by the former administrator, the mother of three fears that if the drought continues, their lives especially those of their children are in great danger.
She appealed to government and humanitarian agencies to come to their aid.
Daku said the economic activity in the area fully depends on livestock and because of the drought, they lost their only livelihood.
She acknowledged the relief distribution by the county government but pointed out that the food distributed was too little for a family who do not have any other source of income.
" The smallest family has about six children and other families have over ten members. The food distributed is a drop in the ocean," she said
She called on the government to hasten the supply of relief food saying what had been supplied was not enough.
Community elder Molu Jillo said the situation was bad and many families were surviving on one meal a day.
He appealed to Non-governmental organisations to donate food to supplement the county's effort in saving lives.
He asked the government to intervene and save schoolchildren to keep them in school.
"All schools in the area should be considered in the government's relief programmes to cushion vulnerable children in learning institutions," he appealed
Kana Sube is one of the desperate residents of Garqarsa who has gone for days without food. The little donation she had received ran out.
"We are hoping God will save our lives because the situation is bad. We do not have food or water. The drought has lasted for several years and if the government does not scale up food aid, we will die of hunger," said Kana
Marsabit is among the counties most vulnerable to global climate change.
Livestock prices have also dropped sharply after they became emaciated due to a lack of water and pasture.
The Kenya Meteorological Department has already warned of poor distribution of rainfall for the March-May rainy season, attributing the eventuality to low pressure over the southern hemisphere and high pressure over the northern hemisphere.