President Ruto in the company of his Deputy Rigathi and other Kenya Kwanza Alliance leaders flagged off relief food to the vulnerable and hardest hit areas by the drought that has been quite severe within the nation.
Governor of Kirinyaga Anne Waiguru on behalf of the Council of Governors urged the National Drought Management Authority (NDMA) to fast-track the provision of solutions for the drought-faced areas in due time to avoid more loss of lives.
Revealing that the Governors are in support of the measures put in place to deal with the drought effects that are starvation for up to 3.5 million lives of Kenyans endangered due to starvation.
Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua called on the Commissioners, and county and national governments to make it a mission of working together in delivering relief food to the affected households around the country.
The flag off of Food was overseen by partners like the World Food Programme and the Ministry in charge as the fifty trucks of relief food were flagged off; 20,00 bags of rice, 20,00 bags of beans, assorted animal feeds as well as cooking oil.
Citing that 3.5 million are facing difficulties and livestock succumbing to the drought as up to 23 counties are faced with a lack of water and food. Something the president remarked on saying that a plan has been developed to deal with the situation at hand.
Urging that after this first consignment, a second one will be released by Friday of this week as he insisted on regular analysis of the situation to embark on a better solution for the saving of the lives of Kenyans.
“We are going to deliver water bozas to various parts of the country, as my Deputy maps out with a team the areas that need water provision and we assist take care of the situation of drought and a lack of water,” said the president.
Further revealing the talks with county governments about the allocation of funds to dealing with the drought and delivering animal offtakes to facilitate the citizens within the counties and nationwide when the animals can’t get pasture.
President Ruto concluded by beseeching farmers to go ahead and increase their production levels despite the short and long rains intervals to ensure that there is sufficient food for the country.
“Farmers should increase acreage as we facilitate fertilizers reach to whole farmers, seeking to support them fully as we seek to take care of our food requirements as a country. Plans are in place to transfer our agriculture from rain relied upon irrigation hence need to partner with the private sector in achieving this goal,” said president Ruto.
Emphasizing to the citizens that this will be the last time the country is faced with such a situation as he called on stakeholders to work together with development partners to assure the food issue is dealt with once and for all.
