NAIROBI, Kenya, Jul 28 – The government said on Thursday that it was not aware of any Kenyan who had died as a result of the biting famine that is affecting four million citizens in northern parts of the country.
Spokesman Dr Alfred Mutua said Kenya had enough food to feed those starving in Turkana and other parts of the country, but was only facing the challenge of distributing relief supplies.
“So far the government does not have an official report of a Kenyan that has died as a result of the hunger,” Dr Mutua told a news conference in Nairobi.
“We are asking anybody who has information of a confirmed death due to starvation to let us know; the government needs that information because it is very wrong for a Kenyan to die or starve whereas there is food in the country,” he asserted.
Dr Mutua confirmed that the government was in the process of changing its approach to relief operations that have failed to yield favourable results in the past.
“Currently, the government does not lack food to feed the hungry; we have set aside Sh10.5 billion to feed Kenyans.”
Dr Mutua also reiterated that the government would feed Somali refugees, but it would not create new refugee camps in Kenya
Dr Alfred Mutua also hit out at foreign journalists and non-governmental organisations, which he said were exaggerating the drought situation.
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