Marsabit residents risk losing 90pc of their animals to drought

Marsabit Governor Ukur Yatani (in checked shirt) and Kenya Red Cross Society Secretary-General Abbas Gullet help a resident put a slaughtered sheep into a bucket to ease transportation at the Dukana slaughterhouse on February 1, 2017. Mr Yatani said pastoralists have already lost 60 per cent of their animals to drought. PHOTO | IRENE MWENDWA | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • Governor Ukur Yatani said the situation is expected to worsen in the coming days.
  • He welcomed efforts by the national government and the Kenya Red Cross Society to prevent drought-related deaths.
  • The Kenya Red Cross has also started a livestock off-take programme.

Residents of Marsabit County risk losing 90 per cent of their livestock by April due to ravaging drought if drastic measures are not taken, Governor Ukur Yatani has said.

Mr Yatani said pastoralists have already lost 60 per cent of their animals.

Speaking in Dukana in North Horr Constituency on Wednesday, the governor said the situation is expected to worsen in the coming days.

He urged the national government to put in place long-term plans to mitigate the effects of drought even into future.

Mr Yatani welcomed efforts by the national government and the Kenya Red Cross Society to prevent drought-related deaths.

“We are looking for more help from humanitarian organisations in a bid to secure lives in the county," said the governor.

CASH TRANSFER PROGRAMME

Kenya Red Cross secretary-general Abbas Gullet said the organisation has resolved to use a cash transfer programme to help the affected residents instead of taking foodstuffs to them.

The project will run from January to April 2017 and it aims at ensuring affected households receive Sh3,000 every month through selected vendors.

Mr Gullet said 1,500 families have already benefited from the programme.

He said it is tedious to carry beans and maize from other places all the way to Marsabit, adding that donations limit the affected people to specific foods only.

Birds feed on carcasses of animals killed by ravaging drought in Dukana, Marsabit County. Herders risk losing 90 per cent of their livestock by April if the situation does not improve. PHOTO | IRENE MWENDWA | NATION MEDIA GROUP

MAKE OWN CHOICE OF FOOD STUFFS

"The people can be helped in a more dignified way instead of them having to walk for long distances and queue for relief food which is not even enough.

“We therefore have begun cash transfer as a way of ensuring the affected families can buy a variety of food stuffs and not necessarily depend on donations that do not give [them] freedom to choose," said Mr Gullet.

"We are aiming at helping 600 more families and a total of 900 households in North Horr and Laisamis sub-counties by bringing them into the cash transfer programme," he said.

The project is funded by the Danish Red Cross through the Kenya Red Cross and it targets individuals with severe or moderate malnutrition, disability, those living in extreme poverty, and orphans, among others.

The organisation has also started a livestock off-take programme.

"In the off-take programme we buy affected animals before they lose their value, die or pose a risk [to] public health," added Mr Gullet.