So far, the National Steering Committee on Drought Response has raised Sh650 million to help the country deal with drought.
Two months after President William Ruto put together the team, the money has been raised.
The Committee got a boost Thursday when it reached an agreement with the Media Owners Association.
The media promised to spread information and news about the Wakenya Tulindane campaign.
“I am happy to announce our partnership with the Media Owners Association because we need them to let Kenyans know what’s going on as we distribute food in the worst-hit counties,” said Peter Ndegwa, chairman of the committee, during a media briefing.
“I think this will be a good way to work together to make sure that all Kenyans are taken care of and no one goes to bed hungry.”
So far, the money that the taskforce has raised has been used to send food to some of the worst-affected counties, such as Mandera, Kitui, Kilifi, Samburu, and Meru.
The interventions of the task force have given food to at least 85,000 people in the five counties.
The latest report from the National Drought Management Authority says that Kilifi, Mandera, Marsabit, Samburu, Turkana, Wajir, Isiolo, Kitui, and Kajiado Counties are in the alarm stage of drought, while Embu, Narok, Taita Taveta, Makueni, Meru, Nyeri, and Lamu Counties are in the alert stage.
“I’m glad we’re working on building partnerships to help stop droughts. “To do what we need to do, we need to work together and get more Kenyans involved,” Ndegwa said.
In 21 of the 23 arid and semi-arid counties, the drought is getting worse.
The four failed rain seasons in a row and the short rain season that started late and didn’t fall evenly in 2022 have been blamed for this.
The 2022 Long Rains Food and Nutritional Security Assessment Report says that there are 4.35 million people who need humanitarian help right now.
