President Ruto defends govt response to flooding tragedy » Capital News

NAIROBI, Kenya, Apr 30 – President William Ruto has defended the government’s response to flooding in the wake of heavy rains that are currently pounding several parts of the country.

In an interview with the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), the Head of State rubbished claims that his administration has not responded adequately to the disaster.

He pointed out that all levels of government have budgets for disaster response.

”The instruments that have been built into budgets give governments at all levels emergency resources. There is always room for any county to adjust their budgets to take care of emergencies,” he said.

He asserted that his administration has taken a whole of government approach to address the emergency to respond effectively to disasters.

”We are working with counties and development partners to make sure that we have a whole of government approach,” he added.

President Ruto had last week directed the government’s multi-agency team to step up flood response. Heavy rains continue to wreak havoc in the country with the interior ministry capping the death toll in the countrywide floods tragedy to 169.

Likewise, it has disclosed that 91 people are still missing in separate incidents across the country with Mai Mania accounting for 53 of those missing persons while Garissa has reported 16 missing persons.

This points to a likelihood of the death toll scaling even higher as different multi-agency teams drawn from the government and the Kenya Red Cross race against time to salvage lives.

About The Author