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Raila: Just a phone call to Uhuru and relief food will be in Kitui within two days


Azimio la Umoja – One Kenya Coalition presidential candidate Raila Odinga has assured residents of Kitui County that he will seek President Uhuru Kenyatta’s intervention in the drought situation in the county.

Mr Odinga has also assured the county that his administration, if elected in the August 9 elections, will ensure that they benefit from government projects.

“When I go back to Nairobi today, I will call President Uhuru Kenyatta to bring relief food here. In two days, the food will be here,” Mr Odinga said on Wednesday when he took his campaign to the county.

The ODM party leader added that the Azimio manifesto will ensure that all Kenyans have food and they will eradicate poverty as well as hunger in the country.

During his tour of the county, Mr Odinga was accompanied by local leaders including Wiper Party leader Kalonzo Musyoka and area Governor Charity Ngilu.

This comes as the country continues to experience drought that has affected 23 arid and semi-arid counties. Early this year, the President flagged off a consignment of emergency relief supplies to the affected areas.

The Head of State also reaffirmed the government’s commitment to providing both short-term and long-term solutions to drought by investing in community-based resilience and drought preparedness programmes.

In his address, the president emphasized that the government is focused on implementing interventions that will build resilience in all the vulnerable households, diversify livelihoods from drought-sensitive activities to drought-resilient ones as well as improve early warning and impact forecasting systems.

According to a United Nations report released early this year, three consecutive failed rainy seasons in Ethiopia, Kenya, and Somalia, have decimated crops and caused abnormally high livestock deaths due to shortages of water and pasture.

The World Food Programme (WFP) had warned that an estimated 13 million people are waking up severely hungry every day in the Horn of Africa following a rain delay.