Kajiado residents advised to move away from flood prone areas

Sep 15, 2023 - 16:26

stakeholders from NDMA, Water, Agriculture, Environment and Climate Change during Kajiado Governor Joseph Ole Lenku’s press briefing at the Governor’s office.

Kajiado,

Friday, September 15, 2023

KNA by Seline Nyangere

Kajiado residents have been cautioned against residing in flood prone areas and advised to vacate as early as possible before the onset of El Nino rains expected in October.

During a press briefing at the Governor’s Office, Kajiado County Governor Mr. Joseph Ole Lenku urged the residents to cooperate to avoid tragedies resulting from floods.

“We want to give a word of caution to people to stay away from the usual flood prone areas so that we do not have to deal with emergencies such as saving lives or even tragedies of losing lives. We do not want to be forced to move people by ourselves so when you are told to vacate, please do so,” said Governor Lenku.

Governor Lenku revealed that the National and County governments, stakeholders from the Meteorology Department, NGOs, environment, disaster management and climate change were working together and discussing on ways the county could prepare for the El Nino rains.

“Be assured that Kajiado teams of both levels of government are working to ensure this problem is mitigated. We have discussed on ways we will open water drainages in all our towns so that disaster associated with flood are controlled, we will also organize tree planting exercise in flood prone areas and ensure our livestock are vaccinated against diseases associated with floods,” said Governor Lenku.

Kajiado County Commissioner Mr. Jude Wesonga reiterated the governor’s sentiments adding, “We ask the media to pass this information to the residents because we do not want to lose lives and if they do not move now, it will force the government to move them and we do not want to do that,” added Wesonga.

Wesonga said they would use this period to prepare well so that the county could benefit from El Nino rains.

“We will ensure as a county we benefit from El Nino rains. This is through planting trees and water harvesting that will be used in future as this is the only time we can do all these,” said Wesonga.

National Disaster Management Director Mr. Hussein Mohamed said that they have placed measures on how information concerning El Nino would reach the resident, how they would be sensitized, educated and trained on water harvesting and climate smart agriculture.

Courtesy; KNA