President William Ruto on Tuesday, November 1, was installed as the Patron of the Kenya Red Cross Society (KRC), taking over from his predecessor, Uhuru Kenyatta.
In the ceremony conducted at State House in Nairobi, Ruto was officially christened into his new role in the presence of Kenya Red Cross Secretary-General Asha Mohammed.
"It is in this spirit of profound admiration, immense appreciation and tremendous gratitude that I humbly accept your invitation to serve as the patron of the Kenya Red Cross.
"I am aware that the patronage is traditionally conferred to the Head of State. Nonetheless, I do not take it for granted and I am aware of the magnitude of this role and I am proud," Ruto remarked.
The President welcomed the decision by the organisation to install governors as patrons in their respective county branches and promised that the state would increase its funding.
"We have made available an additional Ksh2 billion for the intervention on purchase of food under the programme out of which Ksh240 million will be made available to Red Cross," he stated.
The newly-installed patron called on Red Cross to buy food from areas where crop production is surplus to avoid the wastage of food while those in drought-prone areas die of hunger.
Addressing the effects of the drought in the country, Ruto revealed plans to mitigate the situation in the Arid and Semi-Arid Land (ASAL) areas.
"We are making available corned beef for most of our school-going children in ASAL areas to ensure that school attendance is not affected by this drought," he revealed.
Amid crises witnessed in the national parks and game reserves, the head of government released Ksh200 million to the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) to track water for wildlife.
Meanwhile, the President asked the organisation to support his initiative of planting millions of trees in the country to provide long-lasting resolutions to the climate change crises in the country.
