Starving people in Taita to wait even longer for relief food

More than 100,000 hunger stricken people in Taita district may have to wait longer before the delivery of a huge consignment of relief food to the local National Cereals and Produce board stores in Voi for distribution.

Outgoing Taita district Commissioner Mr Kang'ethe Thuku said 2,700 bags of maize allocated to the district about two months ago was still at the NCPB depot in Mombasa for lack of transport.

The DC said transporters shunned the transport contract over what they called  low and delayed payments by the NCPB.

He said the government had already given him an authority to incur Sh1million  for logistics but that could not happen because the food aid has not reached the district for distribution to the needy locations.

"This is not  a secret, I have got the money to enable me hire transport to the locations which is the lowest distribution unit but my hands are tied because the food is not there," he said.

The transport arrangement between Mombasa and Taita the DC said was the responsibility of the NCPB management hence he declined to comment on the amount involved in the exercise.

The last time the district received famine relief food was two months ago while famine was spiralling out of control as more and more people continue to require food aid.

He said the number of starving people in the district had increased from 110,000 up to 120,000 for the last two months adding that the rate at which the figure was rising is alarming.

Rivers and streams that have been providing water to the lower zones, he said, have now dried up following mass destruction of the catchment areas.

"There are a lot of human activities currently going on in the forests that have interfered with water catchments areas upstream," he said.

On that strength he urged the County council of Taita Taveta to institute levies on power saws operating in the area to curb the rising destruction of the ecosystem.

He said the government last year July  had allocated 11,000 bags of maize for distribution to starving families, but 2,700 meant for December has to date not been received at the National Cereals and Produce Board depot in Voi