President William Ruto chaired an emergency Cabinet meeting on the morning of Monday, November 27, 2023, to assess the impact of El-Nino.
Notably, this is following the heavy rains currently witnessed across the country which have led to widespread flooding that has regrettably led to loss of lives.
In addition, the cabinet pointed out other effects caused by the rains such as displacement of families, disease outbreaks, and destruction of infrastructure as well as property.
The Cabinet also blamed the heavy rainfall for the prolonged power outages across the country.
Nonetheless, the special cabinet meeting held on Monday, November 27 and chaired by President Ruto came up with mitigation measures to curb casualties during the El Nino rains.
Cabinet Mitigation Measures – Full Report
First, the Cabinet condoled with the bereaved families and all persons adversely affected by the devastating effects of this weather phenomenon.
Consequently, the Cabinet sanctioned various policy and administrative interventions to augment the ongoing State mitigation and response being implemented by the National and County Governments.
The additional policy and administrative interventions sanctioned by Cabinet will enhance national resilience and preparedness for future weather and climate-driven disasters.
Prevent Further Loss of Lives
Additionally, it will better empower the State to prevent further loss of lives, destruction of property and interruptions to our way of life arising from the El-Nino situation.
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As part of the preliminary assessment of the severity of the situation across the country, the meeting noted that 38 of our nation’s 47 counties are within the Alarm Stage.
The stage is categorically characterized by flash floods, general flooding in low-lying plains, rivers bursting their banks, landslides and mudslides, loss of livestock and destruction of farmland and infrastructure.
The Cabinet also noted with regret the loss of 76 Kenyans to El-Nino, while 35,000 households have been displaced.
In addition, the most severely affected areas in the North-Eastern, Eastern, Rift Valley, Nairobi, Central, Eastern, Nyanza, Western and Coastal regions were listed.
In that regard, Cabinet noted that the State had allocated KSh7 billion with which it is implementing various programs to address the plight of Kenyans across the country.
Fund Allocation
The funds were appropriated by Parliament under the Contingencies Fund as part of the FY2023/24 budget and Supplementary Appropriations No. I of FY 2023/24.
The resources committed will be applied for humanitarian response, including distribution and supply of medical commodities, food and non-food items, rehabilitation of infrastructure and resettlement of displaced families.
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The state’s intervention is being undertaken in a joint effort between the National and Country Governments, and which incorporates the Kenya Defense Forces (KDF) and the National Youth Service (NYS) in operation with the Kenya Red Cross Society.
Through aircraft made available by the Kenya Defense Forces, medical supplies have been airlifted to the most vulnerable counties.
These measures include:
- To support farmers who have been adversely affected, the Government has disbursed KSh500 Million to New KCC to mop up excess milk during this rainy season;
- Airlift medical supplies worth KSh180 million by KDF to Wajir County.
- Infrastructure restoration is being implemented following damage caused by the rains. The works on the following have been repaired:
Mbogolo Bridge on the Mtwapa-Malindi Road, Jilango Centre on the Nuno-Modogashe Road, Maadathe Centre on the Wajir-Mandera Road, Ohio Centre on the Nuno-Modogashe Road, Garbaqoley in Mandera, and Garissa Airstrip which has been repaired and commercial flights resume tomorrow.
Ongoing works to be completed by tomorrow Tuesday, 28th November 27, 2023, are:
Repairs at Maalmim and Togbub on the Nuno-Modogashe Road, and Kotulo, Mandera, on the Wajir-Mandera Road.
The works in progress are:
Tula on the Thika-Garissa Road, Arer on the Thika-Garissa Road and Moyale-Rhamu Road in Mandera.
Additional Sanctions by the Cabinet
To fortify the national response, the Cabinet sanctioned the following additional interventions:
- Scaling up the scope of humanitarian assistance to reach more than 50,000 households in ASAL counties.
- To support County Governments in addressing the disaster situations in their respective areas, the National Treasury last week disbursed KSh10 billions of their shareable revenue.
- Cabinet directed the national treasury to release an additional KSh10 billion to County Governments this week.
- Directed the enhanced deployment of the KDF and all public civilian aircraft to transport medical supplies, food and non-food items for targeted distribution as recommended.
- Sanctioned a proposal be sent to Parliament for the replenishment of the Contingencies Fund and the rationalization of the budget under Supplementary Appropriations II of FY2023/24.
- Directed the National Treasury to further rationalize the current budget and direct Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) to commence reallocation of funds in their budgets to support the emergency response being undertaken by the State.
- Scaling-up of rapid response to rehabilitate dilapidated road networks and facilitate delivery of humanitarian assistance to the affected populations.
- Sanctioned the distribution of over 150,000 mosquito nets to the affected counties.
- Directed the Ministry of Energy & Petroleum, in consultation with all agencies within the sector, to give priority to maximum production, uptake and distribution of hydro-generated power.
- Directed the Ministry of Energy to pass the benefit of lower electricity tariffs to the public in a manner that promotes the increased use of hydro-generated power, which has presently increased to 20 per cent while diesel has gone down from 15% to 10%.
- Committed the coordination of all State efforts to the National Disaster Operations Center, which will coordinate all relief activities by activating the Whole of Government Approach, thus ensuring efficient deployment of resources and enhanced communication among relevant government agencies and humanitarian organizations.
- Established an ad hoc Cabinet Committee on Disaster Response under the leadership of His Excellency the Deputy President to coordinate the State response.
- Additionally, through the National Disaster Operations Center, the Government will continue to provide regular updates on the progress of our relief efforts.
Also, the center shall work closely with the media in disseminating accurate and timely information to the public.
Cabinet Assurance
The emergency session of the Cabinet concluded by reassuring all Kenyans that the Government is doing everything within its power to return the situation to normalcy within the shortest time possible.
Furthermore, the cabinet urged all Kenyans to prioritize safety during their travel during this period, as well as at their homes and workplaces.
“All Kenyans should exercise patience and caution while travelling, wait for storm waters to subside before attempting to crossroads, report any instances of flooding or landslides to the authorities, and strictly follow all guidelines issued by the Government,” reads part of the statement.