The situation is nearly hitting the tipping point. It's the worst time to get into public office. Cabinet secretaries and governors have full in-trays.
The consequences of decades of inaction – of promises upon promises – are self-evident across the polity. About 5 million people, in 25 arid and semi-arid counties, are holding out for relief food.
There is apocalyptic hunger in Baringo county - the home turf of former President Moi. Moi was president for 24 years. He also served as vice president under President Jomo Kenyatta for 11 years.
Moi ruled during the era of centralised planning. Not much trickled down to Baringo. Power without utu, even when the wielder is a homeboy, does not amount to much.
It has not rained in Kilifi county for about 30 months now. Starving people cannot stand by, waiting for rain.
There should be a way of surviving in this unfamiliar terrain. Crops don't need rain – they need water. Harvesting and storing water when it rains should be a priority.
Kajiado is sweating under sweltering November heat. Cattle are dying in the once-happy land of the Maa. A people's livelihood is at risk, as carcasses of their prized livestock litter dusty grazing fields.
Ice disappeared from the highlands, especially the Mau Forest, a regional water tower. When there is no ice in the mountains, there can be no water in the plains.
Government officials are flagging off trucks of relief food, heading to the north, south, east and west of Nairobi. The perennial relief ritual is widespread, as hope of recovery takes a blind corner.
The once food-secure Nyeri county, home of former President Mwai Kibaki, is starving. Want and aridity are no longer confined to Nyeri's Kieni subcounty.
Chinga Dam in Nyeri was a great investment, but the demand is overstretched. The county needs more to serve its growing population. Finding alternative ways of coping is urgent.
The serene rice fields of Mwea, in Kirinyaga county, are yellowing against the backdrop of cracked black-cotton soils. Water for irrigation is being rationed.
Construction of mega water dams was a priority during the first term of the Mwai Kibaki presidency. It was also a priority during the decade of the Jubilee regime.
Wild animals are facing huge ecological risks. Wildlife-human conflicts will get worse as the environmental crisis drives towards a possible tipping point.
A month ago, a stray elephant looking for water and pasture walked into a gated estate off Ngong Road, Nairobi. The midnight mammoth visit, captured on a resident's CCTV camera, was surprising. There is no wildlife sanctuary around the place.
The population's resilience is overstretched. Resolute actions can address, or at least mitigate, the effects of the climate change crisis.
Governments tend to be elegant on promises, intentions and policy, but they are low on deliverables.
Five presidencies later, or after about 60 years of political independence that promised an end to poverty, disease and ignorance, citizens of the post-colony still know want more intimately.
Hunger for food, and twin craving for water, roam the land like a bull on steroids. Diseases are wreaking havoc across the polity, further stressing fragile healthcare.
Ignorance, in its raw form, has been mainstreamed. Accountability occupies the backseat: We don't want to question unfulfilled promises. What to do?
Wananchi cannot be fed on promises without end, unless they are docile and complicit in mass deprivation. The best time to have acted on climate change was yesterday. The next best time is now.
Climate change crisis, the motif of the current meeting in Egypt, is a global phenomenon, but mitigative and adaptive actions should be local, inclusive, strategic, and deliberate. There should be no more promises beyond COP27.
University lecturer and climate change adviser to Homa Bay governor
