Tessie Mudavadi, Musalia Mudavadi’s spouse, has teamed up with the Ahadi Kenya Trust through the Musalia Mudavadi Foundation to launch a door-to-door food distribution programme for 550 vulnerable families in West Pokot facing famine.
Mrs Mudavadi and Dr Stanley Kamau of Ahadi Kenya distributed food to households in the Aramaget slum and in Kamuino village on Tuesday.
The foundation will work with the county to help vulnerable families facing hunger, she said, noting that times were hard for everyone. More than 10,000 families are targeted countrywide.
“Let’s give priority to people with disabilities, the elderly and young mothers,” she said.
“We want the programme to take off and be self-sustaining. [Counties and the national government need] to set up dams to harness and harvest rainwater.”
“Hunger calls for urgent collective interventions, and that is why we are launching a door-to-door campaign of food distribution,” Dr Kamau said.
Left out
“Those people who are bedridden, persons with disabilities, orphans and people with terminal illness are not reached by food distribution because they are not able to attend meetings, have no radios, TV, phones or any means of communication and door-to-door is the only communication,” he stated.
He urged officials to ensure all vulnerable people benefit from the food.
The drought has depleted pasture and water, drastically reducing milk production and worsening nutrition among children aged below five, said West Pokot Governor Simon Kachapin.
“We are experiencing one of the worst drought conditions in years. Food insecurity is still a huge challenge and we still need partners to overcome this challenge,” he said, calling the interventions timely.
His county will collaborate with partners to improve food security, he added.
Areas along the Kenya-Uganda border in Turkana are arid and many children are dropping out of school, said County Commissioner Apollo Okello.
“Many may miss sitting for exams. Kapenguria could easily mislead anyone to think the area is blessed and has no problems like lack of food,” he said.
“Only one quarter of the whole county is good. We received food from the government, but it was a drop in the ocean.”
Some 44,000 residents of West Pokot are in dire need of food assistance due to the drought that has depleted pastures and water sources, threatening pastoralism, the National Drought Management Authority (NDMA) says. BY DAILY NATION