Uasin Gishu residents of good will together with the business community and partners have joined hands and contributed donations worth Sh 6 million to support hunger-stricken families in the Arid and Semi-Arid lands (ASAL) counties who are at the risk of death due to starvation.
The county through the Save a Life Initiative chaired by the Kenya National Chamber of Commerce and Industries (KNCCI) Eldoret Chapter chairperson Willy Kenei mobilized residents of the country’s breadbasket county to donate food commodities and animal feeds to save lives of both human and animals who are at the verge of losing lives due to the adverse effects of drought occasioned by the global impacts of climate change.
Speaking to KNA while receiving the donations from the business communities and well-wishers at the National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB) depot in Eldoret Town, Uasin Gishu Governor Jonathan Chelilim who is also the patron of the Save a Life Initiative acknowledged that the drought situation in the country is severe and calls for concerted efforts to salvage the lives of the mostly affected approximately 4 million Kenyans living in the Arid and Semi-arid lands parts of the country.
He pointed out that the mostly affected are the children, the elderly, people with disabilities and animals.
“We have responded to a call by President William Ruto to assist the hunger-stricken families under the Save a life Initiative, we have been able to collect foodstuffs donations worth Sh6 million in form of dry cereals including maize, wheat, beans, sugar, cooking oil, millet and animal feeds supplements,” said Chelilim.
The governor commended the well-wishers who comprise farmers, business community, corporate, government agencies and county government for taking a bold move to facilitate the initiative making Uasin Gishu the first county to conduct such a remarkable step.
The Save a Life Initiative patron alluded that the food donations would be flagged off to the hunger-stricken areas upon completion in collaboration with the Kenya Red Cross who will help to identify the most affected families to ensure the aid goes to the intended households.
Noting that the country is keen to scale up drought intervention measures in ASAL areas, Chelilim affirmed that the country is facing the worst drought situation in its history like that of the 1980’s as he reiterated the need for every person to conform to drought mitigation measures through planting of trees to curb the impacts of climate change.
He revealed his administration would draft a policy that would have institutions like schools and land owners dedicate at least 10 per cent of their lands to planting trees to support president Ruto’s call to plant 10 billion trees by 2032 in order to achieve 30 per cent tree cover across the country.
By Ekuwam Sylvester & Judy Too
