Belgut Member of Parliament Nelson Koech on Monday, remarked that the effects of global warming had made it difficult for Kenya to prepare well for El Nino rains.
While appearing during an interview, the United Democratic Alliance (UDA) MP stated that the government led by President William Ruto, at first did not want to fully base its El Nino response on Kenya Met data, instead preferring to go for a wholesome approach involving careful examination of other related factors such as global warming and climatic patterns.
According to Koech, the reluctance by the President to accept Kenya Met data stemmed from the fact that in some past instances, some predictions ended up being wrong, giving credence to the argument that issuing accurate forecasts is hard.
The MP held that this underscored the need for a more informed approach.
“I am sure that is what the President was relying on when he made the assertions that we were probably not going to have El Nino,” Koech defended the President.
On October 22, President William Ruto stated that the country would experience normal rainfall and not El Nino as earlier predicted.
“We will only have significant rains, which is even better, for us to get to our farms and produce more," the President stated then.
Two weeks later, the government was forced to change its stance after several counties started experiencing floods.
Thus far, the floods have affected 33 counties leading to the loss of lives and destruction of property. The government has prepared an emergency response team to help the affected families.
The multi-agency exercise is being coordinated at Kenya Defence Headquarters in Nairobi.
On Sunday, President William Ruto remarked that the heavy downpour will lead to increased harvest and subsequent food security.
President Ruto on Sunday, however, chose to see the heavy rains as a blessing which he claimed was a result of prayers conducted by the Kenya Kwanza government.
