Sh114m from Kenyans feeds hungry families

The Kenyans for Kenya initiative spent Sh114 million on feeding hungry families in northern Kenya.

This was part of the Sh633 million that was collected from 750,000 Kenyans and a number of organisations that took part in the initiative.

According to the final audit of the initiative released on Thursday by Deloitte and Touche, out of those funds, Sh44 million is yet to be received.

Deloitte and Touche chief executive Sammy Onyango said if the outstanding pledges are remitted, the initiative will have a balance of Sh563 million, which will be used to fund long-term food security projects in Turkana North, East Pokot and Moyale districts.

Kenya Red Cross secretary-general Abass Gullet said the projects will improve the livelihood of the residents.

“The three areas have been earmarked as pilot projects...this will significantly reduce their dependency on relief food,” he said.

Farming will be introduced as an alternative in areas where pastoralism is no longer viable.

The Sh144 million was used to buy Unimix food and transport it to the affected areas for distribution.

Unimix is an enriched mixture of maize flour, soy beans, oil, milk powder, sugar, vitamins and minerals. It is used to treat malnutrition.

The government has said it will spend more than Sh10 billion to tackle the drought problem in the country.

Mr Onyango said that in addition, the audit team recognised donations in kind totalling to Sh278 million made up of food, fuel, media coverage and various support services.

He added that out of the 1,104 tonnes of Unimix food purchased, auditors visited and verified the distribution of 904 tonnes in 22 locations.

“The only discrepancies noted were that 19 bags could not be accounted for — 17 in Isiolo and two in Mwingi,” he said.

“However, as soon as these incidents were reported, the Red Cross and the Provincial Administration recovered all the bags,” Mr Onyango added.