Agency raises red flag on drought

The National Drought Management Authority (NDMA) has warned that the ongoing rains are insufficient and some parts of the country are likely to experience drought.

NDMA Director Technical Services Orre Sunya assured that the government has put in place measures to ensure that drought does not result into emergencies.

Mr Sunya said the National Treasury has adopted risk financing framework to ensure sustainable funding for emergencies following the realisation that drought affects 2.4 per cent of the GDP.

The government has started the journey to pool resources to mitigate risks caused by floods, seismic shocks like the Suswa fault line which damaged a section of the Mai Mahiu Road, landslides and volcanic activities.

The National Drought Emergency Fund and County Emergency Fund are expected to go a long way in improving response to disasters.

Speaking during a workshop on the African Risk Capacity (ARC) programme, Sunya said the government is pooling resources for disaster response to end reliance on humanitarian appeals and budgetary reallocations which are at times unpredictable.

He said the country is considering taking up ARC’s insurance facility accessed during disaster to spread the risk of emergencies which is costly.

NDMA Drought Information Officer Nelson Mutanda said they are in talks with ARC to lower the threshold for premium financing before they can take the insurance policy.

“The government is pooling resources with a view of ending disaster emergencies by 2020,” Mr Mutanda said.

ARC is a specialised agency of the African Union established in 2012 to enable participating member states to prepare, manage and finance natural disasters

ARC Senior Technical Advisor Kipkorir Koskei said a total of 32 countries - Kenya included signed the ARC establishment treaty.

“Governments take risk transfer instruments to enable them manage financial cost of disasters,” Mr Koskei said.

Eight countries have taken up the insurance cover for drought and so far Niger, Senegal and Mauritania have received payments from ARC Insurance Company Limited, the financial affiliate of ARC.