Kenya is ill-prepared for disaster management, Kericho Senator Aaron Cheruiyot has said.
Speaking during an interview on NTV's AM Live show, the senator said that the Likoni ferry tragedy has proven that the government needs to invest more in disaster management. He said that he is perturbed by the response of the Kenya Navy in the search for the missing bodies in the Indian Ocean.
He argued that the decision by the government to hire foreigners to help in searching for the bodies of the deceased and their vehicle is an indication that we have failed as a nation. He also said that the government should consider investing more in disaster preparedness.
“We are ill-prepared for this kind of disaster in this country. It would be good to get a report from the National Management Disaster Authority on the areas we need assistance on in terms of sea, land and air disasters,” he said.
The remarks of the lawmaker come after the head of the rescue team Col Lawrence Gituma said that the government has procured new equipment to help in the recovery process.
"The strategy now we are deploying relies on the new equipment before sending the human beings for verification down there. The government got us new equipment," he said, as quoted by the Standard.