Inside President Ruto’s plans to deal with El Nino
President William Ruto chairs a Cabinet meeting on the El Nino disaster response at State House in Nairobi yesterday.
The Cabinet on Monday refused to declare the ongoing El Nino rains a national disaster, even as it rolled out measures to respond to the unfolding humanitarian crisis.
At the same time, State House has asked counties to use Sh7 billion of the Sh10 billion disbursed to them as part of shareable revenue to fund disaster response.
A further Sh10 billion will be sent to the regional governments this week, State House pledged.
That the national government has asked counties to consider using the money sent to them last week as part of their shareable revenue allocation to alleviate the suffering of citizens points to the absence of a special kitty to deal with the disaster.
“Inasmuch as it is part of the shareable revenue, the government is encouraging counties to try and reallocate some of these funds to the dare situation occasioned by the floods.”
Thirty-eight of the 47 counties are now affected by the rains that has so far killed 76 people and led to the displacement of 35,000 households, with the worst hit areas concentrated in North-Eastern, Eastern and Coast regions.
State House Spokesperson Hussein Mohamed said the government would continue to assess the situation to determine whether to declare a state of emergency.
“The decision to call something a national disaster is based on data on the ground. The data that has been assessed on the ground so far shows that we are at an alarming stage,” Mr Hussein said, adding, that the National Disaster Cooperation Centre is in charge of collecting the data.
Since President William Ruto addressed the nation on Saturday regarding the ongoing heavy rains, the Cabinet said the government has disbursed Sh500 million to New KCC to mop up excess milk and cushion farmers from the glut.
Damaged roads
The government has also purchased medical supplies worth Sh180 million, which will be airlifted to Wajir County by the Kenya Defence Forces.
Furthermore, the Cabinet has approved the rehabilitation of damaged roads, including the Mbogolo Bridge on the Mtwapa-Malindi highway, Jilango and Ohio centres on the Nuno-Modogashe highway, Maadathe Centre on the Wajir-Mandera highway, and Garbaqoley in Mandera.
Normal operations are expected to resume on the Garissa Airstrip starting today following the completion of repair works.
Additionally, the Cabinet has approved the expansion of the scope of humanitarian assistance to reach more than 50,000 households in arid and semi-arid areas as well as the distribution of over 150,000 mosquito nets to the affected counties.
The Cabinet has authorised a proposal be sent to Parliament for the replenishment of the Contingencies Fund and the rationalisation of the budget under Supplementary Appropriations II of FY2023/24.
The National Treasury has also been asked to rationalise the current budget and direct ministries, departments, and agencies to commence reallocation of funds in their budgets to support the emergency response.
