Do more to minimise adverse effects of drought

It is quite galling that 1.3 million Kenyans in 12 counties are facing starvation owing to drought when more could have been done to mitigate against its effects. It has been reported that in counties such as Garissa, Wajir and Mandera, there hasn’t been proper rainfall for more than a year, yet little has been done to develop adequate water sources even though opportunities exist to exploit ground water aquifers.

And that is why pastoralists in northern Kenya have lost more than 100,000 head of cattle. To compound the problem, their herds have been weakened by hunger and so their stocks can only be sold at a throwaway price.

The devastation across counties has been severe. Because drought is a natural calamity, much like flooding and other non-manmade disasters, the national and county governments have been allowed to get away with shirking their responsibility to keep their regions food secure. Disaster relief has therefore been inevitable. This should not be allowed to go on.

So for the short term, volunteers will have to step in and help these counties mitigate against the effects of drought. Volunteers have often contributed in helping to provide relief and their intervention is appreciated. The government must work with these stakeholders to efficiently channel their efforts to provide relief to those most affected by drought.

The Kenya Red Cross, which has in previous years been placed at the centre of such interventions, has proved that it can help in the coordination of such relief mitigation efforts together with relevant government departments. Because of how it is structured, the Red Cross is better equipped to coordinate donations from private citizens, other non-governmental organisations and businesses.

Well-wishers would therefore be advised to get in touch with its contact persons. But overall, the national government will need to coordinate the relief efforts to ensure that individuals who need assistance, particularly those with the highest risk of starvation, get some help.

The government’s own interventions must also be well coordinated. So far, the national government has formed an inter-ministerial team to deal with the drought situation. It is expected that the team will also assess the gaps in the relief interventions that need to be plugged.

However, even as we recognise the efforts to mitigate against the effects of the current drought, the national and county governments must explain why so little has been done to enhance food security in areas that are perennially affected by famine. They must explain why programmes to improve animal stocks in northern Kenya have not yielded much success, even though this region provides the country with most of its beef.

Although drought is considered a natural calamity, the handling of the country’s water reserves needs a rethink. One would ask; why has it taken the country so long to start recycling its water so that waste from the sewerage system is decontaminated and reused rather than frittered away?

It is unfathomable why we continue to rely on fresh water from Mzima Spring in Taita Taveta County to supply the southern coastal region with its water when water from the Indian Ocean can be desalinated and used for this purpose so that water from inland sources is directed to other urban centres. And why are the efforts to preserve the Mau Forest water tower so muted?

How can the national reforestation programme be accelerated to increase the tree cover and mitigate against the effects of climate change? And how aggressive and effective have efforts been to market sustainable and efficient water harvesting techniques?

These are questions both the national and county governments must answer. It is not enough to launch drought relief interventions year in year out when little has been done to ensure that the effect of such natural calamities are minimised.