Marsabit County readies Sh420m supplementary budget to fight drought

The Marsabit County Assembly says it is ready to pass a supplementary budget to mitigate the drought ravaging the region.

Deputy Speaker Sora Guyo said members met with Governor Ukur Yatani last week and asked him to come up with a supplementary budget to be considered by the assembly.

He said the governor has presented a proposal in which he wants the recurrent expenditure of all the departments, some flagship projects and some ward projects suspended until the drought is dealt with.

Mr Guyo, who is also North Horr ward representative, said the assembly intends to raise Sh420 million from the supplementary budget.

“We gave him an okay to come up with the proposal and he said he will present it to us this week,’’ he told the Nation by phone.

The county government has distributed 700 tonnes of relief food including rice, beans and cooking oil to about 250,000 people.

Mr Yatani has expressed concern that his government is running out of resources to support the affected families, adding that a supplementary budget was being sought through the assembly.

On Tuesday, Devolution Cabinet Secretary Mwangi Kiunjuri said the government had dispatched 420 tonnes of relief food for distribution in the county, where it will also buy 4,500 livestock.

The deputy Speaker also appealed for hay and water for emaciated livestock in his ward.

“Hundreds of livestock have camped in an oasis in my ward, they are so weak. We need urgent intervention of the county, state and humanitarian agencies to supply them with water and feeds,’’ he said.