Crisis as 70,000 face hunger in drought-wracked county

A severe humanitarian crisis looms in Tana River County with 70,000 people facing food and water shortages following persistent drought.

The county and national governments have come together to mitigate the situation that administrators termed as “worrying”.

At least 140 villages in Tana Delta, Tana River and Tana North sub-counties have been put under water trucking programme by the county government.

The situation is severest in Tana North, where the county has deployed 30 water bowsers.

“All dams have dried up and the situation is severe,” said Governor Hussein Dado after a meeting with County Commissioner Isaiah Nakoru.

Mr Dado said Sh100 million had been set aside to buy cereals and cooking oil for urgent distribution.

He appealed for help from the World Food Programme (WFP) and United States Agency for International Development (USAid), saying the joint national and county government aid was “a drop in the ocean”.

The governor also asked the national government to release to the residents the 40,000 bags of maize recently harvested from the Galana-Kulalu Irrigation Project, which is sandwiched between Tana River and Kilifi counties.

The two levels of government have also allocated Sh12.3 million for mass vaccination of nearly a million livestock against diseases emanating from the dry spell.

“The national government will provide Sh3.2 million through the National Drought Management Authority and the governor has said they have set aside Sh9 million towards the mass vaccination campaign,” said Mr Nakoru.

He said 45,900 people had been put on the national government-sponsored project, Food for Asset, and more beneficiaries will be enlisted in the coming days.

The programme also involves the purchase of livestock in drought-stricken areas for slaughter by the Kenya Meat Commission (KMC).

In Tana Delta, 25,000 people in Assa Location and Hurara were in dire need of food and water.