By Brian Okoth
Kenyan President William Ruto has said that heavy rains hitting the country have caused an "emergency situation."
In a press conference in the capital Nairobi on Saturday, Ruto said floods have killed at least 70 people, displaced 36,160 families, damaged roads, and disrupted transportation of crucial commodities such as drugs and fuel.
"Many roads across the country, especially in the northern part of Kenya have been washed away, there are trucks stuck everywhere with food, medicines and fuel that is now unable to reach the destinations in various parts of the country, especially in northern Kenya," Ruto said after meeting leaders of agencies that deal with disaster response, including the police service, the military and relevant ministries.
"The meteorological department tells us that these rains will continue, and therefore we need to prepare ourselves for the emergency situation that is going to ensue."
Concerted effort
Ruto said that the cabinet will meet on Monday, November 27 to "deliberate on the various (disaster response) recommendations that have been made to ensure that the country is better prepared for the management of the situation that we see unfolding."
"Immediately, the national disaster operation centre has been rolled into place.
"Senior government officials will now move to the national disaster operation centre, including those from the military, the ministry of roads, the council of governors, and all the other stakeholders, including the ministry of health, to make sure that we coordinate all the information, receive reports from various parts of the country, process that information, and make sure that adequate interventions are put in place to manage the situation in the country," Ruto said.
"We have made available 2.4 billion Kenyan shillings ($15.7 million) to provide food to the displaced people across the country," he added.
The president further said that all road contractors in Kenya will now be "mobilised to provide emergency intervention services."
Scaled-down El Nino alert
In October, Ruto said that the country would not experience El Nino as had earlier been projected by the meteorological department, a statement that appears to have landed the president in an uncomfortable situation, given the deaths and displacements floods have caused in the East African nation.
The Kenya Meteorological Department has said that the heavy rainfall will continue until the end of January 2024, with a possibility of the El Nino lasting up to April.
David Gikungu, the director of the meteorological department, told Kenya's Citizen Television on Sunday that he did "not know" who misadvised President Ruto.
"As the head of the department, I needed to state that the (weather) forecast had not changed. The confusion that information (by the president) was causing, I needed to state that I was sorry about that miscommunication," Gikungu said.
Ethiopia, Somalia also affected
"As far as science is concerned, (El Nino) forecasting had not changed. The indication is that we are all in an El Nino season that would last up to April 2024," Gikungu said.
Kenya's Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua recently said that the national government had disbursed 10 billion Kenyan shillings ($65.4 million) to county governments to facilitate flood control, but county governors denied receiving the funds.
The International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies has appealed for 3.1 billion Kenyan shillings ($20.3 million) to support the Kenya Red Cross in response to El Nino floods.
In the neighbouring nations, Ethiopia and Somalia, floods have killed at least 126 people, with 96 of the deaths reported in Somalia alone, according to government records.
"Our country is vulnerable to climate shocks. Right now, El Nino is causing mass destruction of life and property, leading to further displacements," Somalia's Minister of Interior Federal Affairs and Reconciliation Ahmed Moallim Fiqi said on Saturday in the capital Mogadishu.
