DCs in charge of grain supply

District commissioners across the country will be in charge of distributing relief food to 10 million Kenyans facing starvation.

And to make sure the food reaches the intended groups, the DCs have been told to personally supervise the distribution. They will also work with distribution steering committees or disaster management committees.

“Every information on how food has been distributed should also be made available to the people,” Internal Security minister George Saitoti told provincial commissioners and the DCs at the Kenyatta International Conference Centre in Nairobi on Thursday.

Weekly reports

This will be done by providing the information on public notice boards. After the distribution, the DCs will be required to provide weekly reports to their PCs.

“They must ensure that their weekly reports contain reliable information and data,” added Prof Saitoti.

The Government has chosen to use the DCs in the distribution because they have the machinery to assess food shortage from the village level.

Through chiefs and their assistants, the DCs knew all the deserving cases in their districts, said Prof Saitoti. The minister’s meeting comes against the backdrop of a food crisis following insufficient rain since last year.

President Kibaki will on Friday make an international appeal for famine relief. It follows last week’s announcement that the Government will declare a national emergency over the famine.

The famine follows the post-election violence early last year during which some farmers in grain basket areas of the North Rift kept off their farms.

The cost of fertiliser also shot through the roof, leading to poor harvests, compounded by the rotting of crops in farms during the short rains late last year.

Special Programmes minister Naomi Shaban, PS Ali Mohammed and the Internal Security PS Francis Kimemia also attended the meeting.

Dr Shaban said all the relief food would be distributed through the National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB) or other designated areas.

Prof Saitoti warned the DCs against stealing the relief food, explaining that his office had received complaints that some government officials were diverting the supplies for their personal use.

“No one has a right to sell the famine relief food. If you don’t have money to transport it, please get in touch with us and the money will be sent to where it is required,” he told the meeting.

He reminded DCs from frontier districts that export of maize had been banned. “Seal all the loopholes and deal with unscrupulous traders who may want to sell maize across the border,” he said.

Besides the supervision work, the DCs were told to be on the alert to ensure crime did not escalate during the distribution of food.

Prof Saitoti noted that in dry areas of northern Kenya and Rift Valley, cattle rustling usually increased during famine.