LETTERS: Ward level disaster management plan needed

Lately, the media have been awash with reports and images of drought effects on livelihoods in Turkana and East Pokot. There was a swift response with food support to affected regions if only to alleviate the suffering to the vulnerable. However, the politicisation of the crisis, facts distortion and outright backlash directed towards public officers and partner agencies portrayed a bad image on our attitude.

There lacks character in criticising others opinion and goodwill gestures while we offer no alternatives. We need to collectively reflect on the plight of the affected communities and prioritise measures of alleviating their suffering.

Drought requires a concerted multi-agency approach between the national government, county authorities, partner agents and local communities to arrest its impact before degenerating to emergencies. Providing timely, reliable and credible information and data on the true position on the ground informs action. Often during droughts, movement of livestock in search of pasture and water far away from homesteads is a common occurrence in arid and semi-arid (ASAL) regions, depriving those left behind, mainly children, lactating mothers, elderly and disabled people access to milk and income from the sale of livestock to buy basic commodities.

Again, the elderly and the disabled benefiting from cash transfers, often are unable to access this support in the event their caregivers have moved with the livestock. Regardless of unfolding situations, the first line of response in case of a crisis is county authorities.

Use of monthly technical reports released by drought authorities can be a critical decision-making tool to inform timely action by mobilising ward administrators, chiefs and their assistants and Nyumba-Kumi leaders in affected areas to intervene before things get out of hand. Unfortunately, the majority of these officers in ASALs rarely dwell within areas of deployment.

They moved into towns upon employment where life is comfortable and bearable. I won’t be surprised if some of them learned of ongoing drought crisis from the media just like the rest of us. Ironically, support extended to affected communities is done for publicity. Similarly, support targeting is skewed and rarely gets to those who need it most.

The absence of a disaster risk management framework, infrastructures and institutional structures down to ward level, hinders timely response to disaster risks in ASALs. Also, some affected areas are inaccessible posing difficulties for food deliveries as well as other essential support like medicines.

The deaths toll narrative was a misconceived approach that diverted attention from real issues triggering knee-jack reactions to the affected. Let’s always be alive to the spirit of Article 43 of our Constitution, Vision 2030 second Medium-Term Plan (MTP II) 2013—2017 and the Sustainable Development goal number two on zero hunger for all.