ICT and Digital economy Cs Eliud Owalo with Migori County Commisioner David Gitonga distributing tins of rice to Nyatike residents at Lwanda.
The Kenya Kwanza government led by the Cabinet secretary for Information and Communication Technology has issued relief food to boost reserve in flood-stricken areas in Migori County.
This has left the residents of the water-logged areas of Nyatike with a reason to smile especially after the destruction of their crops by the heavy rains that caused floods.
Speaking at the occasion, the Cabinet Secretary for ICT said that the government is committed to ensure that all Kenyans are included in every program despite their voting patterns.
“Our aim is to ensure that we respond as quickly as possible to combat the crisis to enable them live comfortably,” said Owalo.
Owalo who presided over the distribution of more than 100 bags 50kgs of rice said that a hungry nation is an unproductive one hence the decision to combat the hunger.
More promises
Owalo on the other hand assured the residents of the already laid plans to ensure that Sori- Masara highway is completed.
“We have already done the design of the highway and the remaining thing is to strike a deal with the World Bank to allocate funds for its completion,” he said.
The highway has been for a long time been a transport barrier due to its incompletion, which makes it impassible during the rainy season.
When complete, the highway will be a great hub for income being the most used highway for transporting fish from the lake.
The Cs also said the government has plans to build dams and dykes to direct the flood in dams to solve floods which has displaced some residents.
“Dams will be built and dykes to direct the floods into the dams to ensure that the problem is permanently solved,” added Owalo.
He reiterated that the same dams will be also useful especially in the irrigation schemes that are soon being started in the area to boost food production.
He said that water from the dams will also be channeled to the rice irrigation to make the area productive even during rainy season.
Owalo who represented the president did not stop at that when he asked the residents to make grounds for hosting the president even as he plan to visit them.
In the company of Cs Owalo was the former Kisumu County governor Jack Ranguma who is now the chairman of Savings and Credit Cooperatives at the occasion.
While addressing the residents, the firmer governor encouraged the youth and women groups to enroll into groups so as to be able to get loans at lower interest rates.
“I have decided to come back to Women and youth to help them realize their investment potential by encouraging them to start table banking,” said Ranguma.
Perennial floods
Nyatike has been a soft spot for floods especially during March-April-May rains which in some places have been used to boost the production of crops.
As other area residents celebrate the rains, areas like Nyora, Kabuto, Modi and Angugo have been always flooded and crops in such areas destroyed if not hindering agriculture.
The residents have always been displaced, gone hungry and students forced to stop learning due to the flood problem.
The cases are even worse especially when the students resume studies after holidays break due to destruction of classes.
Distribution of the relief food therefore will boost the morale of the residents who will now at least have to eat despite their agricultural activities being thwarted by floods.
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