Monday October 11, 2021
The carcass of a camel in Fafi sub-county in Garissa County. FILE
Nairobi (HOL)- The vast northeastern region in Kenya is experiencing a suffocating drought that has led to the deaths of several domestic animals.
The situation has become so dire that President Uhuru Kenyatta declared the drought as a Kenyan national disaster in a statement two weeks ago.
The drought puts the life of over 1.5 million people who live in the region in danger.
Residents in the northeastern part of the country have shared a video with Hiiran Online, which captures tens of carcasses on the ground within Garissa County.
Speaking to Hiiraan Online, a member of Garissa County Assembly (MCA) representing Liboi ward, Hussein Ahmed Bashir, said that President Kenyatta saved the people and domestic animals in the area.
"The situation is so bad that we fear that even camels will die due to the ongoing drought. It is time President Kenyatta intervenes and helps his people," he said.
Bashir said that the people of Northern Kenya need support and care as they are losing a lot due to the drought.
He said that once President Kenyatta announced that drought was a national disaster, he was happy that things would work out, but nothing has been done to assist the people.
"I am appealing to the President of Kenya to kindly look at the predicament the people of Northern region were facing through the Ministry of Devolution," he said.
He said they also feared that people would start dying due to the drought that had hit the region.
He said that the people of the Northern region were equally Kenyans and had the right to live like any other Kenyans in the different areas.
In March, the Nairobi-based IGAD Climate Prediction and Applications Centre showed that the region would receive little rain in three months.
Earlier this month, the Food and Agriculture Organization warned that the region was being affected by La Nina.
"Climate extremes and La Nina- driven weather will likely continue in April and May, during hunger in several; parts of the world from Afghanistan, Madagascar to the Horn of Africa," FAO said in a statement.
According to the Kenya Red Cross Society, Kenya needs Sh800 million to address the drought that has hit the country at large.
It states that drought is a natural disaster that should be mutually exclusive since there is drought in the northeastern region and floods in other areas.
Kenya has been sending relief food to areas that have been flagged down as hard-hit by the drought.
President Kenyatta, in mid-September, met with leaders from the drought-stricken northern Kenya at State House in Nairobi.
The Head of State met with 85 leaders, including governors, Cabinet Secretaries, Chief administrative secretaries, principal secretaries, MPs and senators.
He said that the Ministry of Treasury and the Ministry of Interior should work hand in hand to address Kenya's climate challenges. This includes; providing water and relief food, keeping a record, and updating the livestock situation in the area.