By Obegi Malack
The drought situation in Kajiado County has posed a threat to the education of thousands of school going children in the region who have opted to stay at home with their parents and help look for water and pasture for their animals and food for themselves.
More than 600,000 families are facing starvation.
The drought is so severe that wild animals have moved out of their natural habitats in search of food in homesteads posing a serious human-wildlife conflict.
Lucy Lermashisha, a resident from Ewuaso Ward, said that elephants have invaded peoples homesteads in search of water, making some children fear for their safety and stop going to school.
Benjamin Saitoti from Keekonyokie ward stated that school is not a priority for them right now as they have to fight the drought before anything else.
“We have to look for food before we focus on education. Children cannot go to school on empty stomachs,” he added.
Some people from the area have been forced to sell their cattle at throw away prices.
In Kajiado Central which is the most affected region in Kajiado County, cows go for as low as Ksh 500 while goats and sheep are sold at Ksh 200 per animal.
The normal market price for a cow is between Ksh 20,000 and Ksh 60,000.
The farmers use the pay to but food and at times hay which retails at Ksh 300 and Ksh 400 per bale.
Mmost parents from the area say the education system will be affected for many years since, as a result of drought; they had to sell their livestock which they used to pay fees.
Statistics indicate that farmers might lose 450,000 cattle valued at approximately Ksh13 billion if the drought continues.
The county government through the disaster management kitty set aside Ksh 100 million to mitigate the situation and support at least 280,000 learners with supplementary food and dietary rations for Ksh 16 per child daily for the next three months.
The government also promised to distribute food to the affected families across the county at a cost of Ksh1, 400 monthly for the next three months and supplementary feeding for children under the age of five years and breastfeeding mothers.
Agriculture and Livestock Cabinet Secretary Mithika Linturi visited the county to assess the situation and rally support from the national government.
The county government, churches and local leaders have called on well-wishers to support the affected families by donating food to help curb starvation.
