Over four million Kenyans are at the risk of starvation owing to minimal rains in the country. The worsening household food security situation has resulted in acute malnutrition rates across the arid and semi-arid counties with 942,000 children aged 6-59 months acutely malnourished and 134,000 cases of pregnant or lactating women acutely malnourished and in need of treatment.
The National Drought Management Authority (NDMA) act of 2016 mandates this body with the responsibility of mitigating such situations. NDMA is, however, not executing the stipulated functions as required by the act.
NDMA is required by the law to coordinate with the national government whenever a drought situation requires the declaration of a national or international disaster. There has been growing calls for an emergency response to support pastoralists and residents of northern Kenya counties staring at starvation.
Governors from the northern counties have called on the national government to move with speed and salvage the situation. NDMA should have already advised President William Ruto on making this declaration as it would give urgent attention to the situation.
The authority however fails to do this yet in its September report on drought, it recognizes how dire the menace is getting.
Secondly, NDMA should render advice and technical support to persons, bodies or institutions engaged in drought management so as to enable them to carry out their responsibilities effectively. This responsibility has not been accomplished.
For instance, in July, the Kenya Red Cross Society (KRCS) rolled out a livestock off-take exercise targeting 1036 heads of cattle to cushion pastoralists from the effects of the ravaging drought in the Tana River.
The NDMA besides publishing alert notices, is yet to hit the ground, so to speak. This is despite having a mandate to identify, design and implement projects and programmes that shall strengthen resilience to drought and climate change.
Droughts are a normal part of virtually any climate; it is therefore important to develop plans to reduce their impacts. The NDMA is required by law to develop such plans, according to section five of the NMDA act of 2016. The NDMA should focus on building a long-term drought resiliency and improving Kenya’s ability to quickly and effectively respond to drought emergencies in order to mitigate the impact of drought when it occurs, by lessening the negative effects it can have on water supplies for people, farms, and livestock.
