A section of MPs from the North Eastern region have sent a message to the President, via a letter, that the drought situation should be recognized as a national disaster, for them it is a warning that millions of lives and livelihoods are at stake.
During their session in Parliament on Wednesday, the MPs declared that a very conservative estimate indicates that there are 2.1 million people in Kenya who are severely food insecure as a direct result of the changes in weather conditions such as delayed rains and increasing temperature that have in turn made pastoralism, a way of life for the affected communities, untenable.
According to MPs, region had been hit by a series of dry spells, resulting in the death of a large portion of the livestock, causing conflicts over resources and pushing a high number of households into starvation.
The members of Parliament demanded government intervention without delay, among other things, the initiation of a livestock offtake programme as a matter of urgency to take pastoralists who are witnessing the rapid disappearance of their animals from the middle.
County representatives also demand the government intensifies the delivery of emergency food aid and fodder methods and warn that the humanitarian crisis is worsening at a level higher than the interventions which are currently in place can manage.
Already the National Drought Management Authority (NDMA) has sounded the alarm with a close attention report about deteriorating conditions throughout the region citing reducing water sources, poor vegetation, and the return of intercommunity tensions as the main reasons why people in villages are desperately looking for scarce resources.
Mandera Governor Ahmed Khalif was in line with the MPs’ opinion when he said the state of affairs on the ground was “dire” and had therefore necessitated coordinated action by both the national and county governments if they were to stop marring the region with death any further.
The Kenya Meteorological Department has forecast that the current dry spell will continue until the end of February thus causing the drought crisis to escalate unless steps are taken swiftly and decisively.
The leaders want the government, humanitarian agencies, and development partners to take immediate action. They let the world know that the time window for saving lives and protecting livelihoods is fast disappearing.
