Garissa: Garissa county leaders have called for urgent concerted efforts in mitigating the dire effects of the current drought severely affecting the region before the situation gets out of hand. Speaking outside his office after holding a crisis meeting that brought together both National and county representatives, Garissa governor Nathif Jama said that drought was already having devastating effects on the communities’ livestock and livelihoods across all sub-counties in the region.
According to Kenya News Agency, the situation has been made worse following four consecutive seasons of failed rains, leading to acute water shortages, depletion of pasture, and rising food insecurity among the pastoralist communities. The latest report from the National Drought Management Authority (NDMA) indicates that Garissa County’s drought status remains classified as alert with a deteriorating trend, with at least 33,000 households facing starvation. The report further states that thousands of households are facing severe water stress, while livestock conditions have drastically declined in recent months, threatening the mainstay of the county’s economy and way of life.
Jama emphasized the need for both the national government, partners, and stakeholders to come together to save the situation. “We are here to sound an alarm over the drought situation in our county. It is becoming hard for the pastoralist communities. At the moment the situation is grim and very soon, we are going to be losing livestock and wildlife if something is not done urgently,” Jama said.
‘Eighteen of our 30 wards are severely hit and we are trucking water to more than 200 settlements. We are also providing fuel, maintaining the vehicles to make sure that the people who benefit do not suffer due to breakdowns,’ he added.
Garissa Deputy County Commissioner Sebastian Okiring also voiced concerns over the deteriorating situation, calling on development partners, humanitarian agencies, and NGOs to step up their interventions and coordinate closely with both the national and county structures to ensure effective and timely response. “We want to call upon all partners to come in and actively engage so that we are able to ease this situation. This is a situation that is getting dire and a lot of support is required so that we safeguard our people, livestock, and wildlife,” Okiring said.
He added that the national government was considering commercial offtake, disclosing that it was engaging KMC through the NDMA to start the process. Garissa County NDMA coordinator Abdinoor Dubow noted that while they were engaging all available resources from both the National and county levels, given that the weather forecast has predicted below-normal rainfall, there is a need for more stakeholders to come on board and help in managing the situation.