The Kenya Red Cross Society and county government of Busia have signed a 5-year Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that will see the two entities formalise cooperation and interaction in areas of health, disasters, risk management, mitigation and preparedness.
Speaking after signing the MOU at the Busia governor’s lounge, Kenya Red Cross Society secretary general Dr Ahmed Idris said the MOU will provide a structured way of collaboration adding that it will enable the county to align its bill on disaster with the national disaster bill paving way for joint projects that support communities.
“The signing of MOU brings in a structured way of collaboration with the county government being able to look at the bills that they present within the county and also align them with the national disaster bill. This will enable partners like us to be able to access resources and come up with joint projects that focus on supporting communities that are more at risk especially with the known hazards in the county, ‘he said.
Dr Idris stated that the county government and Kenya Red Cross have extensively collaborated to provide essential services to people and communities who were affected by the recently witnessed floods in the county.
He further said there was a need of establishing a framework of the partnership that will mark the areas of cooperation, adding that they will also explore other opportunities outside the signed MOU.
‘In coming days, we will be working together to roll out the functions and areas of collaboration we have established. Our partnership will continue to grow not only based on our MOU but also on any opportunity that arises. We have outlined the priority areas that we need to focus on for the next 5 years so that we are able to deliver,” he said.
Busia County Secretary Oscar Juma who represented the governor said they have been partnering with Kenya Red Cross society for a long time and there was a need to formalise the collaboration.
‘The document defines the areas of interaction and cooperation between the county government and the Kenya Red Cross in many areas of health ,disaster, risk management and mitigation and preparedness among other areas that have been identified as being important,” he said.
Busia County Executive Committee Member for Public Service Management, Pamela Awori said the signing of MOU puts a seal on the county relationship with the Kenya Red Cross appreciating the effort of Kenya Red Cross in regards to disaster management.
“We are happy to partner in the areas of community response in terms of livelihood recovery during and after disaster, matters of health and putting up a warehouse that will help in quick response in terms of logistics.’
She indicated that they will be working on establishing highway patrol ambulances to boost emergency response during accidents.
‘Our highways have been a disaster area and we are thinking of having highway patrol ambulances especial in terms of response to oil spillage and tanker accidents’ she said
Busia County has been experiencing several disasters including recent flooding which left at least 1747 households affected in Bunyala, Samia, and Teso North Sub counties.
By Salome Alwanda and Rodgers Omondi
