Nairobi — Mandera, Marsabit, Turkana, and Wajir counties have been hardest hit by the ongoing drought after four failed seasons in parts of the country, the National Drought Management Authority has said.
NDMA said Tuesday that the failed rains have undermined livelihoods and community coping mechanisms.
NDMA Chief Executive Officer Hared Hassan Adan stated that the number of people in need of assistance in the country has increased from 3.5 million in May to 4.1 million as of June this year.
"The drought situation has continued to worsen in nineteen (19) of the 23 ASAL counties. This is attributed to the poor performance of the 2021 short rains coupled with previous two failed consecutive seasons and early cessation of the 2022 long rains season," Adan said.
According to NDMA six counties, Laikipia, Mandera, Marsabit, Wajir, Isiolo, and Samburu are in the Alarm drought phase while 13 counties including Kilifi, Turkana, WestPokot, Kwale, Meru (North), Embu (Mbeere), Garissa, Kajiado, Kitui, Nyeri (Kieni), Taita-Taveta, Tharaka-Nithi, and Tana-River are in Alert drought phase.
Four counties including Baringo, Lamu, Narok, and Makueni are in the Normal drought phase.
NDMA further pointed out that acute malnutrition has also been recorded across the affected counties with 942,000 cases of children aged 6-59 months acutely malnourished and 134,000 cases of pregnant or lactating women acutely malnourished in need of treatment.
Since September 2021, the Government has disbursed over Sh 2.6 billion in cash transfers under HSNP and another Sh 8.58 billion targeting the elderly, orphans, and vulnerable children, and People with severe disabilities.
Adan stated that the Government has stepped up drought response efforts across the 23 counties spending over Sh 4.9 billion in food aid, Sh 500 million for commercial livestock Committed to Ending Drought Emergencies offtake in 13 in addition to water response interventions such as water trucking and fuel subsidy to strategic boreholes.
He added that a further Sh 1.1 billion has been disbursed as Emergency Relief Cash Transfer to 170,940 vulnerable households.
"The Government, together with its development partners, will next month, July undertake a multi-sectoral assessment of the food and nutrition situation across the ASALs. This assessment will advise on the level of interventions both short/long term to mitigate the impact of the drought," Adan stated.
He advised beneficiaries with pending concerns like Change of recipient and ID updates to visit the nearest Equity bank branches to regularize their details in readiness for payments.
