As the hunger and drought situation continues to bite in most parts of the country, West Pokot County government has started the disbursement of relief food to hunger stricken families to cushion residents from the looming hunger.
The county government has disbursed more than 6,000 bags of maize to areas affected by hunger.
The consignment will be distributed across the county to the most affected areas like Alale, Kiwawa, Turwel, Masol, Lomut, Kiwawa, Masol, Kasei, Wei Wwei, and Tapach.
West Pokot has more than forty thousand residents facing acute shortage of food.
Speaking in Kapenguria when he officially flagged off the disbursement of the food, governor Simon Kachapin said the county government had put in place long-term measures to help avert the hunger situation.
Kachapin said the food will be distributed to the most vulnerable areas that are worst hit by hunger.
He pointed out that the county government had pumped a lot of funds to the agricultural sector to help residents produce their own food and avoid depending on relief food.
Kachapin said the county has also purchased 200 generators to help small-scale farmers engage in irrigation.
“The generators will help farmers produce food that will be used at the household level and the surplus will be sold,” he said.
The worst hit areas in the region are Central Pokot, North port sub counties and areas along the Turkwel belt.
Kachapin appealed to the national government through the devolution ministry to provide more food to all the hunger-stricken regions in the country to avert any loss of lives.
“We shall also distribute food to areas affected by insecurity hit areas like Kalimgon and Ombolion along the Turwel belt,” he said.
Kachapin, however, took a swipe at the Principal Secretary of Treasury and Finance for releasing funds and giving out information a day after that the counties have not utilized funds.
“It’s wrong for the Principal Secretary Kamau Thugge to advertise in the media and mislead residents by blaming the counties for not being able to use the funds. This is reckless,” he said.
The county leadership said that the county government will ensure that long-term measures are put in place to prevent perennial drought and hunger.
“We need more money to eradicate hunger. We call on other donors to come in and help us,” he said.
The governor cautioned the leaders over politicizing the hunger situation in the county and misinforming residents through the media. “People should stop politicizing everything,” he said.
He labelled those criticizing the county government as ill-advised and that they have all planned to ensure that every vulnerable family is fed.
West Pokot deputy governor Mr Titus Lotee said that the first four thousand bags will go to the most affected wards within the county, that is Lomut, Kiwawa, Alale, Kasei, Wei Wei and Tapach wards and the other remaining two thousand to other areas.
“This is the first phase of the disbursement. We are working with the national government to bring in more food,” he said.
He added that the drought has hit the county hard and that they are doing everything possible to ensure that no resident will die due to hunger and that no school will be closed due to the drought and hunger.
“We shall ensure that food reaches the affected families,” he said.
Lotee, however, said that no one should mistake the distribution of food as a campaign tactic, alleging that their opponents may take advantage of the exercise as a political gimmick.
Mr Lotee, who is in charge of the disaster management Department in the County rubbished the allegations that the county has a balance of Kshs 500 million from the county allocation of the financial year 2016/2017.
Mr. Lotee assured residents that the county government and the national government have put up measures to cushion residents from the ongoing hunger and drought.
“We have fed locals from July to December last year. This time round we have put measures to deal with the situation on a long-term scale. We shall ensure that there is enough food and we want to make sure all is well in May, June, July, August and September,” he said.
