•During the press conference, women who have witnessed the devastating impacts of droughts narrated their ordeal.
•Ruto warned government officials against selling or stealing relief food meant for the starving Kenyans.
Image: ANDREW KASUKU
More than 20 humanitarian and development organisations have called for the scaling up of aid to those affected by the ongoing drought.
They described the crisis as a historic shame of hunger, adding that there is an urgent need for funding for humanitarian assistance to end the spiralling, saddening and shameful crisis in the Horn of Africa.
In a joint press statement on Tuesday in Nairobi hotel, the organisations urged for faster disbursement of funds from the global community.
The organisations included Action Aid International Kenya, Action Against Hunger, Adra Kenya, African Youth Commission, All Africa Conferences of Churches, Amref, ASAL Humanitarian Network, CAFOD and Catholic Relief Services.
Others are Christian Aid, Cordaid, Hellen Keller Foundation, Help Age, Pan African Climate Justice Alliance, Plan International, International Aid Services Kenya, International Alert, Médecins Sans Frontieres, Misereor, SOS Children Home, Voluntary Services Overseas and World Resources Institute.
Pan African Climate Justice Alliance executive Director Mithika Mwenda said the current trends with droughts are genocidal and validates calls for financing loss and damage within the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change mainstream.
Mwenda said while the world struggles to devise solutions with little grass root involvement, evidence shows that communities have solutions.
“All that they need is financial support to action their ideas and innovations,” Mithika said.
There is a biting hunger currently in 23 counties after rains failed for the last five consecutive seasons.
Farmers have been unable to harvest their crops during the five seasons.
More than four million Kenyans are in dire need of relief food. The drought has also claimed more than three million livestock.
The organisations have tasked governments in the region to prioritise the provision of food and nutrition, rehabilitation of boreholes and increased protection of women and girls against rising sexual and gender-based violence, exploitation and abuse.
Mwenda said the drought in the region is not new as the Horn of Africa has endured three severe climate-triggered droughts in 2010-11, 2016-17 and 2020-22.
He, however, pointed out that efforts in building resilience to climate change in the region have not kept pace with the frequency, prolonged and severity of droughts in recent years, making it harder for families to recover between shocks.
“We are saddened to see the results of this inaction despite numerous warnings and yet global leaders continue to drag their feet when it comes to honouring climate financing pledges,” he said.
Mwenda said the drought is happening at a time when the Green Climate Fund, the body which is expected to ease bureaucracy associated with the World Bank and other financial institutions, has turned out to be another nightmare in disbursing money meant for emergencies.
He said organisations must access the funds to ensure urgent adaptation interventions are scaled up.
During the press conference, women who have witnessed the devastating impacts of droughts narrated their ordeal.
The women are from Garissa, Kajiado, Isiolo, Makueni, Taita Taveta, and Baringo counties.
Maka Kassim from Garissa said women are the most affected by the impacts of drought.
“They do not have enough food and they are the ones trekking long distances for the commodity,” she said.
Kassim said most have been forced to have one meal a day.
Mary Likama from Kajiado said women set out as early as 3 am to search for water, an exercise that will go up to 3 pm.
“They risk coming in contact with dangerous wildlife,” she said.
Likama said elephants are nowadays seeking refuge in people’s homes, a move that has seen an increase in human-wildlife conflict.
Similar concerns were raised by Flora January from Taita Taveta.
January said elephants have destroyed property in search of water.
Anastasia Plilan from Baringo said that even though they have been trained on modern farming methods such as agroecology, there have been no rains.
Plilan said insecurity affecting parts of Baringo has worsened matters.
George Awalla, country director, VSO said the suffering pastoralists and communities go through as a result of the drought is a violation of human rights and leaders must be held accountable.
Susan Otieno, the country director of Action Aid Kenya said the UN must now realise that while discussions on climate change take place globally, impacts are local, with grass root communities being the most hit.
“The global north must begin to publicly acknowledge their contribution to the problems of drought and floods in parts of Africa and Asia," she said.
"I laud countries like Scotland and Sweden for their contribution towards funding adaptation but also urge others to come out and support efforts towards bolder climate action."
Alarming in the Horn of Africa is that, at least 36.1 million people have now been affected by the drought which began in October 2020.
This figure represents a significant increase from July 2022 when an estimated 19.4 million people were affected, reflecting the impact of the climate change-motivated drought in the region.
So far, data from various humanitarian organisations indicate that 1.3 million children are acutely malnourished and so far hundreds have died in nutrition centres.
About 4.6 million children and 986,100 pregnant and lactating women in the region are acutely malnourished in drought-affected areas.
More than 16.2 million people cannot access enough water for drinking, cooking and cleaning. This includes 8.2 million in Ethiopia, 3.9 million in Somalia and 4.1 million in Kenya.
On Monday, President William Ruto flagged off 50 trucks carrying 40,000 bags of beans and rice and assorted animal feeds and cooking fat at State House, Nairobi.
He said the government will work with non-governmental agencies and leaders to ensure food and water reaches the neediest Kenyans.
Ruto said some 3.5 million Kenyans are at risk of starving following acute drought ravaging parts of Northern Kenya and across the country.
The President said weekly meetings to assess the situation will be done to see what the interventions will weigh on the people around the country and what additionally initiatives can be done as we go into the future.
(Edited by Tabnacha O)