First Lady Rachel Ruto asks church to lead in efforts to end drought
First Lady Rachel Ruto has urged the Church and faith-based organizations to support efforts to address the famine in the country that has affected more than 4.35 million people.
Speaking at the Ignite Impact Marathon Conference in Mombasa the First Lady said the current drought witnessed in some parts of Africa, Kenya included, needed the entire society to come together.
“Kenya is facing the worst drought we have seen in a generation. We need to come together and address it as one. We call upon churches and faith based organizations to come onboard,” she said.
The First Lady called on churches and development partners to work to improve the lives of the people through social and economic community development programs.
Ignite Impact Marathon is a conference that brings together religious leaders from 12 African countries including Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Burundi, Chad, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, Nigeria, Rwanda, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Kenya.
In Kenyan 11 counties, Garissa, Isiolo, Kajiado, Kitui, Mandera, Marsabit, Laikipia, Samburu, Tana River, Turkana, Wajir, are in Alarm drought phase while Embu, Kilifi, Kwale, Makueni, Meru, Narok, Nyeri, Tharaka Nithi and Taita Taveta are in the Alert drought phase.
Just a few weeks ago, President William Ruto announced the Government has made a new allocation of Sh2 billion for food relief to counties affected by the severe drought in many parts of the country.
The Head of State also said that the government will collaborate with development partners and the private sector to raise an additional Sh10 billion.
The allocation of the Sh2 billion comes after a previous allocation of Sh3.2 billion by the Government for the purchase of relief food.