Raila tells President Ruto to declare floods a national disaster

Azimio la Umoja One Kenya coalition party leader Raila Odinga is now appealing to President William Ruto to declare the ongoing heavy floods a national disaster, amid rising cases in displacement and deaths across various parts of the country.

The opposition chief, addressing the press on Wednesday evening, urged the Head of State to dispatch military response units as part of an emergency protocol to help in mitigating the damage being caused by the floods.

He also wants an emergency fund set up in a bid to assist flood victims, noting that opposition-allied Members of Parliament have since jointly raised a Ksh.1 million donation which shall be presented to the Kenya Red Cross for the cause.

“It is our urgent appeal that the President and government hereby declare the floods a national disaster and immediately activate all emergency mechanisms, including military disaster response teams,” he stated.

“The Red Cross moves to launch an emergency disaster support kitty to assist families affected by the flooding, for urgent distribution on case by case basis. As we speak the Azimio MPs assembled here have already put together the sum of Ksh.1 million as a start which shall be given to the Red Cross in Nairobi for distribution to the affected people.”

Mr. Odinga went ahead to urge the Governor Johnson Sakaja-led Nairobi County government to undertake proper rescue efforts in areas most affected by the floods and provide relevant support to all victims.

He further told the Kenya Kwanza government to put in place long-lasting measures to deal with the prenennial menace, noting that “as a country, we can do better than crying for help when rains come and crying for help again when the rains fail.”

“While we continue to receive reports from other parts of Nairobi and access to some neighbourhoods remains critically limited, we appeal to the government and other disaster response agencies to launch thorough search and rescue efforts in all affected areas, and provide food rations, blankets and medication to affected residents,” he said.

“It is important to point out that all forecasts show that the rains will be pouring some more tonight and the coming days, which means the disaster is about to get worse. Preparedness is key to forestalling a crisis of larger proportions.”