How Leaders From Drought-Hit Areas Are Massaging the Face of Hunger

‘Starve and starve more’, say ASAL leaders

Hunger and despair bridled with eminent death is the life of Kenyans in Arid and Semi Arid Lands. It is a sad state of affairs seeing hungry women, children and men. Old and young, lactating mothers, infants – the  situation is grave. There is little to do and little to hope for. Nowhere to get food and water. A man watches his family languishing in hunger with little he can do. Abandoned by their political leaders, they have tried all they can to get food in their shelters but to no avail. Their leaders have come, beckoned and left, they are told not to speak out but do nothing to mitigate the situation. Nursing mothers have no food for their infants, no food to cook for their children and no water to give. What has become of these governors?

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From Baringo to Turkana, Marsabit, Tana River, Kwale, West Pokot, Mandera, is a sight to abhor. The governors are acting like they have been hit by a tsunami with no inclination of what is happening in their respective counties. Turkana county Governor Josphat Nanok blames it on the weather and says they are putting measures in place to mitigate the harsh drought. Nanok has been the county head for over five years, being on his second term but has done little to ensure Turkana benefit from its vast wealth. Remember in 2013 two aquifers were discovered in the Turkana Basin and Lotikip Basin which was indeed a sense of hope for the drought-hit region but up to now residents are still undergoing starvation and death. Isiolo governor Mohammed Kuti is only known for his PR stunts as his county is ravaged by starvation. In Baringo, residents feed on wild poisonous fruits for survival. The case is the same for counties such as Tana River, Wajir, Mandera among others.

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In these areas drought has become a repetitive plague but the governors are doing nothing. The formation of the Frontier Counties Developments Council, FCDC seems to have brought more and more harm to the counties as most of the governors have been riddled in corruption cases. It is ironical that governors from these respective counties signed an MOU between the Water Sector Trust Fund and the counties but so far starvation is rife. Members of the FCDC include Garissa, Turkana, Mandera, Wajir, Samburu, West Pokot, Lamu, Tana River, Marsabit and Isiolo.

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These governors have totally neglected their counties despite huge allocations from the National Treasury with Turkana having over Sh10 billion shillings in county allocations over the last three years. County assemblies are misusing funds with most being used for building of county offices and palatial homes for governors, payment of their salaries with little left for development purposes. Millions and millions are spent on conferences but little is implemented on ground. As carcasses lie scattered and residents have zero access to water in villages like Narengo, Kangirisae, Nakoret and Lidoket-Engol, governors continue to gobble up more and more to feed their greed.

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No Kenyan deserves to die of starvation. There have been early warning signs over the past months but this did not alert any of the governors. Even the constitution has provision for emergency situations through the Public Finance Management Act, allowing counties to spend on emergency situations without going through the rigourous of authorization and procurement procedures. But then again the governors have a nerve of misusing such resources meant to benefit the public.

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The situation is the same for the Members of Parliament and Members of County Assemblies. They are no lesser devils. Over Sh100 million has been issued in form of County Development Allocations for the constituencies but there is little to show on ground. Where does the money go? What about the Equalization fund for marginalized counties? The governors, MPs and MCAs are solely responsible for what is happening to the ASAL counties.

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