Kenya releases Ksh5bn to help drought affected areas
A herder watches as his cows drink water from one of the few remaining sources at Gedi Lun in Garissa. Devolution Cabinet Secretary Mwangi Kiunjuri has said that the national government has released Sh5 billion to fight drought. PHOTO |NATION MEDIA GROUP
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From the kitty, Sh1.2 billion will be used to buy livestock from the affected people, a process he said has already started.
Nairobi. The government has released Sh5 billion to deal with the drought currently being experienced in various parts of the country, Cabinet Secretary for Devolution and Planning Mwangi Kiunjuri has said.
From the kitty, Sh1.2 billion will be used to buy livestock from the affected people, a process he said has already started.
Mr Kiunjuri spoke when he accompanied the Parliamentary Committee on Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries on its first visit of Samburu County which is one of the counties affected by drought.
The committee was mandated to go round the country and assess the drought and hunger situation in the country before tabling its report to Parliament.
During its visit to Samburu County, the committee oversaw the distribution of relief food to the affected people. Government statistics show that 10 per cent of the livestock in the country has been affected with a number also dying due to lack of water and pasture, said Mr Kiunjuri said.
He said after the government carries out its assessment based on the body condition of the animals in the affected areas, it is then that it will determine their prices. “After we purchase the weak animals, we will slaughter some for the affected families in the same region. This is one way to make them also feel appreciated since they are the ones who reared them,” he noted. Some of the money will also be used to repair 400 boreholes in all the affected areas in a month’s time, he said. (NMG)
