By Johnson Chengo
In addressing the adverse effects of drought and hunger currently ravaging a big part of Kilifi County, the county government in conjunction with several partners has started a relief distribution exercise to the most affected region of Ganze constituency.
Deputy Governor Flora Chibule in the company of donors from Mombasa Cement, The International Association of Lions Club District 411A and the Premchandbhai Foundation donated food stuffs and solar powered lamps to residents of Dodosa in Ndigiria location.
The food stuff included maize flour, peas among other consignments in aid of over 600 families.
The county government dispatched a water boozer that will be distributing water to the drought-stricken residents.
The deputy governor Ms Chibule said the county is experiencing one of its worst drought situations ever in its history and that they will work around the clock to mitigate the situation.
“The drought situation in Kilifi is currently bad and thank God that we have today received relief food, soap and solar lamps from donors. We really appreciate them for the good gesture. The consignment will go a long way in addressing the current situation. The food will at least take the beneficiaries two weeks and this is a good step towards addressing the same,” she said.
Whilst that is a short-term solution, the deputy governor said the county is currently working on a long-term solution which includes sinking of boreholes and digging of more water pans that will be a relief to the communities when it rains.
Ms Chibule said that some parts of Kaloleni, Ganze and Magarini have been hardly hit by the famine situation and more efforts are being done to address the situation.
“We shall work with partners to make sure that we fill the storage tanks that have remained without water for some time now so that our water boozers’ trucks can fetch and distribute to our people in the drought affected regions,” she said.
Head of the delegation, Shehzan Luhar, the District Governor of the International Association of Lions Clubs District 411A agreed that the situation was bad in most rural parts of the county but vowed to continue lending their support.
“As Lions Club and seeing the current drought situation, we partnered with Mabati Rolling Mills, the Premchandbhai Foundation and the Mombasa Cement to bring a pack of food stuffs to the affected families in Dodosa and Ganze town.
We have given 600 packs to the residents in Dodosa and we are giving out another 400 packs to the residents of Ganze town. We are doing this as a short-term measure since we are also undertaking other long-term initiatives,” said Luhar.
According to Mr Bhadra Kumar Shah from Lions Club of Mombasa, the company has been using its trucks to distribute water to residents in different parts of the county hardest hit by the prolonged drought.
“We have built 18 water pans in Kilifi County and drilled about 100 boreholes mostly in schools. Soon we shall be launching three new drilled boreholes and our target is to have at least 20 new boreholes by March next year. And when there is no water at all like is the situation now, Mombasa Cement uses its trucks to distribute water to the drought hit regions,” he said.
Kilifi Governor Gideon Mungaro while addressing residents of Kayafungo said he will chair several meetings to make sure that food comes to the people of Kilifi by the end of next week.
Kilifi Senator Stewart Madzayo called on the national government to send relief food to Kilifi starving residents.
He said the region has been neglected and was missing in the recent relief distribution exercise launched in Nairobi recently.
