Dorcas Gachagua on the ongoing drought: As a pastor, I know God will intervene

Mrs. Gachagua while giving relief food to residents of Laikipia East in Laikipia County on Monday said she is certain God will step in and bring rains to end the ravaging drought that has affected parts of the country.

“Everywhere we have been visiting, here in Kieni, last week we were in Narok, and when you look at the situation, there is a lot of hunger and the sun is scorching. But as a pastor, I know there is God who will intervene and bring rains,” she said.

“No one cannot be a victim of hunger. In the past, people have thought of it as a problem of only the North Eastern region, but now when you go to Mount Kenya and the Rift Valley, data shows that everyone is in a problem,” the woman of cloth behind the Dorcas Rigathi Mercy Ministries added.

Mrs Gachagua said President William Ruto’s Kenya Kwanza government is determined to address the drought crisis and do away with relief food.

“The Kenya Kwanza government wants to put in place measures which will make us address this drought issue once and for all. We don’t want to be talking about relief food every year, we want people to be self-reliant,” she said.

“That is why the government will bring you the Hustler Fund, from where you will be borrowing to create income-generating projects.”

While attributing the drought to lack of focus in addressing climate change, the Second Lady also urged residents to plant trees and protect the forest cover to combat the crisis.

“The only people who will change the climate and bring the rains back to their schedule are me and you. So as we give out food today, I would also like to ask the National and County government to join hands towards a tree-planting initiative,” Mrs. Gachagua said.

Already, 4.35 million people are in dire need of food, a number that is likely to rise in the coming months.

With the drought situation taking the form of a vicious annual cycle, weather and drought experts are calling for an overhaul of the drought response mechanisms.

Kenya is among the three countries in the Horn of Africa facing the worst drought in decades occasioned by the below average rainfall going into its fifth season.