Ruto holds talks with stakeholders on drought situation in Kenya

President William Ruto on Wednesday chaired a meeting in State House with the government and development partners on the management of the drought situation in the country.

The meeting was to streamline operations and also avoid duplication in relation to relief food supply to affected regions.

He had on Monday flagged 50 trucks from State House which contained 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.

 23 counties in the country are facing severe effects of drought with the worst hit counties including Mandera, Wajir, Garissa, Isiolo, Marsabit, and some parts of Samburu.

The next consignment of food to drought-stricken areas will be released on Friday.

President Ruto said he had recently instructed the Treasury to make resources available for addressing the life-threatening crisis.

To ensure no Kenyan dies of hunger, Ruto had urged the affected counties to slow down on their development projects and instead divert their energy toward the program.

The President had on Monday instructed the Ministry of Water to make water boozers available so that the commodity is supplied to hard-hit areas.

“Under the direction of the deputy president Rigathi Gachagua, the ministry and the governors in the particular counties will map out the areas that will require urgent need of water to be supplied,” Ruto said.