President Uhuru Kenyatta Friday called on county governments in areas affected by droughts to review their budgets and allocate fund to intervene in the problem facing the people.
The President said the counties should follow the example set by the National Government that is already reallocating money meant for development to mitigate the emergency facing Kenyans living in the drought hit counties.
“Realign your budgets and remove money from areas that are not urgent to save lives,” said the President when he addressed residents of Isiolo County, which is among the areas affected by the drought.
The Head of State also warned unscrupulous business people who are buying off maize and hoarding it with an intention to make big profits.
The President said the Government is aware of the activities of the business people who plan to export the maize to other neighbouring countries also affected by drought.
He said the Government has already frozen the export of maize until the drought situation changes.
“There will be no exporting maize during this drought. Any business person found hoarding maize will face stern action. You cannot take advantage of the misery of the people,” said the President said.
He said there was a need for longer term plans to ensure that Kenyans are cushioned from the adverse effects of droughts.
The President was briefed on the drought situation on Wednesday where he was also informed on the measures taken by the National Government in addressing the situation.
The Inter-Ministerial team will meet with and brief the President again on January 27th.
The President has already directed government agencies including the National Youth Service and other security agencies to be involved in food and water distribution.
Other measures undertaken by the government include livestock offtake programs, provision of supplements and vaccines for livestock, upscale of school feeding programmes and scaling up of other relief transfers.