County declares drought an emergency

Marsabit Governor Ukur Yatani (left) and his Mandera counterpart Ali Roba hold a copy of the revised County Integrated Development Plan during its launch at Marsabit stadium on October 25, 2016. Mr Roba has declared the drought in his county an emergency. PHOTO | PHOEBE OKALL | NATION MEDIA GROOUP

What you need to know:

  • The National Government has donated 20 water boozers to Garissa and Wajir and left out Mandera County citing insecurity but Mandera County Government is ready to provide local drivers,” Mr Roba said.
  • Some 63,000 households in Mandera are currently getting relief supplies from the national government. This means 6.15 per cent of the total population is being targeted.

The Mandera County Government has declared drought in the county an emergency.

“The current drought was precipitated by delay of the short rains. The status has since moved from alert to emergency,” Governor Ali Roba who chairs the Council of Governors committee on Arid and Semi-Arid Lands counties said on Thursday.

The livestock body condition is rated as poor, with cattle as most affected compared to sheep and goats.

“The body immunity for the livestock is poor due to lack of pasture and increase in worm and ecto-parasite load thus the county is in a diseased state with high chances of disease outbreaks,” Mr Roba said.

To combat the effects of the drought, Mr Roba’s government said it will buy 70,000 bales of hay for distribution to pastoralists.

The Roba administration will further undertake water tracking for livestock to reduce the trekking distance in search of water.

A massive vaccination and deworming of livestock countywide is to be done using drugs donated by regional pastoral livelihoods resilience project (RPLRP).

The county government is trucking water to 141 centres including 15 strategic water points where water is delivered to livestock.

“This is because the pasture has moved away from water points thus the need for livestock water. We are also trucking to schools and dispensaries in the affected areas. There are 10 water boozers currently delivering an average of 6 trips per vehicle per day totalling to 1,200,000 litres per day,” Mr Roba said.

He added: “The County Government is procuring the services of 10 additional water boozers to boost the current fleet. This will greatly enhance water availability and accessibility for both human and livestock.”

“We are also carrying out 24-hour rapid response borehole maintenance. There are two groups of rapid response, one based in Elwak covering Mandera West, Banisa and Mandera South while the other group is covering Mandera East, Lafey and Mandera North. So far we have repaired 30 boreholes since July 2016 to date,” he said.

The county government is equipping recently drilled boreholes on emergency basis. These boreholes are situated in high livestock grazing areas. The boreholes are Elkuro, Makutano, Ogorwein and Kubi.

“There were a lot of water projects carried out by the County Government since 2013 and this has really helped minimize the effects of drought.

The National Government has donated 20 water boozers to Garissa and Wajir and left out Mandera County citing insecurity but Mandera County Government is ready to provide local drivers,” Mr Roba said.

Some 63,000 households in Mandera are currently getting relief supplies from the national government. This means 6.15 per cent of the total population is being targeted.

Mr Roba says his administration targets the highest number of beneficiaries compared to other actors in the relief activities in the county.