The government and its partners have stepped up to fight hunger in Kilifi County that have put over 145,000 people in dire need of food in the region due to the ongoing raging drought.
During an urgent stakeholder meeting on Tuesday, Kilifi County Commissioner Kutswa Olaka said that urgent responses are being carried out by different Civil Society Organizations such as food distribution, cash transfers, and school feeding programmes while the government is soon expected to distribute relief food that was launched by President William Ruto last month.
Mr. Olaka disclosed that Ganze sub-county, parts of Kaloleni, Jilore and Adu wards are the most affected areas adding that aid from different stakeholders has been directed to those areas to save residents from starvation.
“We have met and talked with the organizations that help in providing food, those providing water in areas that are in dire straits, and we talked about the money that the national government gives to families that are suffering from hunger”, he said.
“We have agreed on the strategies that all of us, the national government, the county government, and non-governmental organizations will take to fight this situation of lack of food”, he added.
During an interview with the media, National Drought Management Authority (NDMA) County Coordinator Adam Ndamungu disclosed that they are waiting for food aid from the government which is expected to be delivered soon.
“We have been promised that food will arrive soon, the food provided by the honorable president, they started with the areas that were worst affected, the arid counties, so we also expect that we will soon get that food”, he said.
He further stated that all the stakeholders have agreed to help each other so that they can help the citizens and ensure all affected residents have been reached by the aid that the government and non-government organizations provide.
Mr. Ndamungu added that the hunger calamity has greatly affected school-going children with school attendance declining as families go without food.
He thanked the partners such as Centers for Health and Education Programmes (CHEPS), United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), and Caris Foundation who have already rolled out school feeding programmes but pleaded for more stakeholders to come on board since there are more affected schools left out.
“We request stakeholders to continue providing food to school children in the affected areas because there are children who sometimes go to school without food but if they get a school feeding programme it will help them improve their learning and also retention in the schools”, he pleaded.
CHEPS Project Officer Abubakar Khair told the media that the organization has provided a feeding scheme to lower primary school children in 25 schools in Chakama location, Magarini Sub County.
He further stated that more schools need urgent feeding programmes therefore he called out to other organizations to chip in and save the starving school kids.