President William Ruto has flagged off food aid to drought stricken counties across the country.
Addressing a press briefing during the function, Ruto asked counties to adjust their budgets so that they can avail resources to mitigate the drought situation.
This comes as he announced that 23 counties are currently suffering severe effects of drought with 3.5 people being affected.
He spoke on Monday at State House when he flagged off relief food to families affected by the famine.
The 50 trucks at State House contained 20,000 bags of rice, 20,000 bags of beans, cooking oil and assorted animal feeds.
Ruto said the release of the next consignment of food to drought-stricken areas will be on Friday.
"The government on a weekly basis will assess the situation and see what this intervention will mean for the people and what can be done in future,” he said.
The President also instructed the Ministry of Water to mobilise water bowsers to be delivered the liquid to areas affected by the drought.
Ruto said he will meet development partners on Wednesday to streamline operations and also avoid duplication in relation to relief food supply to affected regions.
Experts had warned the situation would deteriorate in the coming days if the government does not move with speed to provide food to millions of starving Kenyans, amid fears that the onset of short rains remains unpredictable.
The worst hit counties include Mandera, Wajir, Garissa, Isiolo, Marsabit and parts of Samburu, which are all members of the Frontier Counties Development Council.
Leaders from the affected areas had urged the government to declare the drought a national disaster.
This, they said, will enable a full-scale response from the administration, international community and non-state actors.
Earlier, Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua held a meeting with Governors from counties affected by drought to discuss immediate intervention measures to save lives as directed by his boss.
"I wish to confirm that further to President Ruto’s direction, we initiated talks between the National and County gov’t with a view of creating a road map towards dealing with the drought situation," he said.
