Deputy President William Ruto has revealed that one person collapsed because of hunger while on his campaign trail in the coastal region to popularize his presidential ambitions.
In his tour down coast, the DP addressed a series of public rallies in open grounds and and in churches.
While on an interview in a local radio station the DP revealed that while in his tour, he witnessed one civilian fainting because of hunger.
“When I was in Ganze what I witnessed there was not good at all. There was one person who fainted because of hunger," Ruto stated.
Ruto noted that while he was visiting the region, he was aware of the hunger situation in the region and that he had bought food for the people.
“I had the knowledge that both the National and County Governments had food programmes for the region but as I also was visiting, I carried with me food worth Ksh1.5 million but upon reaching there the situation was worse so I was forced to double the food,” Ruto highlighted.
Ruto explained that due to such situations the Jubilee government in their manifesto wanted to highly focus on constructions of dams.
“It was unfortunate that our plans got hijacked by bad politics. For example, the Mwache project which was supposed to kick off four years ago will commence next month,” Ruto added.
Earlier in July, the National Drought Management Authority (NDMA) predicted a downward trend in food production in 11 counties due to poor rainfall.
The counties include Marsabit, Garissa, Kilifi, Taita Taveta, Embu, Meru, Nyeri, Samburu, Tana River, Kitui and Kajiado. NDMA stated that the counties are expected to experience a long spell of drought for close to four months.
Acting on the report, President Uhuru Kenyatta on Wednesday, September 8 declared the drought affecting parts of the country a national disaster.
The President instructed the National Treasury and the Ministry of Interior to spearhead government efforts to assist affected households.
