Garissa Governor Mr. Nathif Jama has appealed to development partners, donors, and the national government to join hands and work together in finding immediate intervention measures for drought in the area.
Speaking today after co-chairing the county steering committee with area County Commissioner Boaz Cherutich, Jama said that there is a need for joint efforts by all players to cushion the residents from the severe effects of drought.
“We are facing a terrible situation because we are at an alarming stage of the drought. We are working with the national government and other development partners to see how we can mitigate these effects,” Jama said.
“We have been supporting borehole drilling and provision of fuel for water trucking but the situation right now calls for much bigger intervention,” he added.
The county boss further committed to immediately release Sh40 million to buy water and food for the affected households and school children.
He raised concern that many children in the county may miss sitting for the coming national examinations which are slated for 28 November due to the drought situation in the Country.
The Governor said that the county teams will prioritize the provision of water to communities through water trucking and food distribution to the most vulnerable families.
The Garissa County Commissioner on his part said that small sub-sector teams tasked with finding solutions for different issues will table the report for approval and forward it to Nairobi for budgetary allocations.
“We have identified the gaps that require immediate attention and formed technical teams headed by sector heads to look into those issues and bring a report to be forwarded for action,” Cherutich said.
“We appreciate the work that our development partners are doing and we wish to appeal to them to double their efforts. We have also noted the issue of duplication of services and a team will look into that so that it can be streamlined,” he added.
By Erick Kyalo
