The government has turned to the United States for help following miscommunication on the country's preparedness to handle El Nino rains by the Kenya Meteorological Department and top government officials including President William Ruto.
Environment Cabinet Secretary Soipan Tuya on Tuesday revealed that her docket would enhance national weather and climate services that include partnerships with specialist technology institutions.
Tuya stated that this was part of an ongoing revamp of the Kenya Meteorological Department.
“One such opportunity the Ministry is considering is a public-private partnership with American weather and climate technology giant Tomorrow.io,” she stated.
The CS made the remarks during a meeting with representatives from the American company who had flown to Kenya to discuss the partnership.
The Chairperson of the Presidential Council of Economic Advisors David Ndii, and Environment and Climate Change Principal Secretary Festus Ng'eno among other senior government officials also attended the meeting.
Tomorrow.io is a weather and climate security platform that helps governments predict and prepare for the operational impact of weather before it happens.
Kenya has been on the spot for not preparing adequately for El Nino which has caused havoc in 33 counties and affected over 80,000 households.
Kenya Met and the national government led by President William Ruto meanwhile, have engaged in a blame game over who provided wrong information about El Nino.
The President on October 22, remarked that Kenya would experience heavy rains instead of El Nino citing an advisory by Kenya Met.
"The department has now said there will be no El Nino, we will only have significant rains,” he stated then.
However, since then, the situation has turned out to be very different.
On November 10, Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua made Kenya Met Director David Gikungu apologise to the nation for the President's miscommunication.
Despite apologising, Gikungu stated that he was not aware of who had provided the President with such information.
