Waiguru urges State to effect drought emergency fund

Council of Governors chairperson Anne Waiguru has called for the government to actualise drought emergency funds and allocate county revenues.

This is to help scale up the humanitarian assistance to both the ASAL and non-ASAL areas that are currently famine-stricken.

"We further urge the National Government through the NDMA to fast-track the process of actualizing the Drought Emergency Fund as well as immediately release the equitable share of revenue due to the counties to scale up the humanitarian assistance to the households experiencing severe droughts," she said.

Waiguru spoke on Monday during the flagging off of relief food to drought-stricken counties, at the State House.

The Kiriyanga Governor said county governments are taking haste action in ensuring that their people are shielded from the adverse effects of the drought.

This is through provisions of food rations, animal feed and water.

She, however, said the counties continue to face challenges in mobilizing local resources to adequately respond to the crisis.

"This is occasioned by the delays in release of an equitable share of revenue by the National Treasury to counties, which is inconsistent with the dictates of the Constitution and Public Finance Management Law," she added.

Waiguru also called for intervention from the international community, development partners, private sector, NGOs and other partners to rationalize with the government's support.

She further urged the partners to contribute to the ongoing process of development of County Integrated Development Plans (CIDPs).

This is to ensure the co-planning and co-financing of long-lasting projects that will build the resilience of communities in the affected counties and other climate-related risks.

Waiguru pointed out that 942,000 children between ages 6 and 59 months are acutely malnourished and 134,000 pregnant or lactating women acutely malnourished and in need of treatment.

"This underscored the urgency of consulting government intervention to save lives and protect the livestock which is the livelihood of many Kenyan communities," she added.

On Monday, President William Ruto flagged off 50 trucks containing 20,000 bags of rice, 20,000 bags of beans, cooking oil and assorted animal feeds.

"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.

Ruto said the release of the next consignment of food to drought-stricken areas will be on Friday.

Waiguru requested the Ministry of Public Service, Gender, Senior Citizen Affairs and Special Programmes to work closely with county governments while distributing the food.

She said this is to ensure that all intended beneficiaries are reached out, adding that the governments have elaborately mapped the most vulnerable in our society.