Turkana County seeks support to feed the hungry

The county government of Turkana has appealed for support to feed thousands of residents affected by the drought.

County Disaster Management Executive Charles Lokioto said the devolved unit is using funds from its budget to ensure consistency in relief food distribution.

However, Mr Lokioto said the drought, which according to the County Steering Committee is at the alert stage, is approaching the emergency stage and called for support to feed the increasing number of people staring at starvation.

Close to 900,000 people, most of them children and the elderly, have been beneficiaries of two food distribution cycles by the county.

The food quantity per cycle included 40,000 of 50kg bags of cereals, 10,000 of 50kg bags of pulses and 10,000 20-litre jerry cans of vegetable oil.

The county is working in partnership with relief organisations such as Kenya Red Cross, World Vision, Oxfam, Unicef, World Food Programme, National Disaster Management Authority, Save the Children and others, to closely monitor and respond to the situation.

Mr Lokioto said the county government doesn’t have capacity to reach all starving families across the vast region.

“The county government has drilled boreholes in all wards, but sadly most of them are among the 90 per cent of water sources that have dried up due the to drought,” he said.

The victims of drought are spread across the county with all villages in Turkana North and Kibish Sub Counties being the most hit.

Residents along the fish-rich Lake Turkana are among thousands of residents hit hard by the drought.

Clerics from the affected areas led by Fr Andrew Yakulula of Todonyang Catholic Mission, said that livestock although have water from the lake, they die while on their long journey in search of pasture.

About 10,000 animals have died.