Kenyan president announces $16.4 million to fight drought

By Andrew Wasike

NAIROBI, Kenya (AA) - The government in Kenya allocated 2 billion Kenyan shillings ($16.4 million) on Tuesday for food relief to more than 4 million people affected by a severe drought in many parts of the country.

“We are working with development partners to raise another 10 billion shillings ($82.3million) to ensure no part of the country is unfairly affected by drought,” President William Ruto said at the State House in the nation’s capital.

Ruto said that the funds come after a previous allocation of 3.2 billion shillings ($26.3 million) for the purchase of relief food.

The government said it had taken measures to fight the drought, which is the worst to hit the East African region in 40 years.

Thousands of livestock and wildlife have died because of the lack of pasture occasioned by the drought.

Ruto noted that part of the funds will be channeled to support an animal offtake program in which the government buys weak livestock from pastoralists. Half of the animals are slaughtered and the meat is distributed to residents. The other half is taken to the Kenya Meat Commission where the meat is canned for distribution to schools.

A portion of the new funds will be allocated to the Kenya Wildlife Service to undertake water trucking for wildlife in Kenya’s national parks and reserves.

Ruto vowed his government has put in place robust measures to combat climate change, which he said is the root cause of the adverse weather patterns around the world.

An estimated 4.1 million people in Kenya are food-insecure and in need of humanitarian assistance, according to the UN.​​​​​​​