President William Ruto, On Wednesday, September 28 2022, presided over a meeting with delegates from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs to discuss the country’s drought situation.
The Head of State was accompanied by Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua and newly appointed Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi.
Taking to his Twitter page, President Ruto emphasized the need to collaborate with other stakeholders to strengthen the drought task force response measures.
“Aware of the fact that this is the worst drought in four decades, we must step up, create synergy, marshal more resources and adopt a more coordinated, real-time and targeted intervention that will guarantee assistance to the vulnerable people in drought-affected areas,” Ruto said.
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Ruto’s meetup with delegates comes days after he flagged off 20,000 bags each of rice, beans, and various animal feed on Monday, September 26, 2022, for areas suffering from severe drought.
He also stated that the second consignment of food aid would be done on Friday.
The intervention came as the drought worsened, affecting 20 of the 23 arid and semi-arid lands (ASALs) that remain relatively dry.
Speaking in New York, US, on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly, UNGA, the President pointed out that 3.1 million Kenyans needed food, a situation caused by inadequate rainfall over the past couple of years.
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Governors were also advised to make budget adjustments to allow for more funding to help alleviate the situation. The President continued by saying that they will cooperate with the Kenya Meat Commission (KMC) to transport weak animals to other counties, preventing citizens from becoming trapped in the issue of feeding animals.
“We are going to work with the KMC to make sure that there is an off-take program that will facilitate citizens not to get stuck with livestock when they do not have pasture,” he added.
Weather and drought specialists are advocating restructuring the drought response systems as the issue has developed into a deadly annual cycle.
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