Leaders from Garissa County are urging the national government to release and distribute relief food originally reserved for anticipated El Niño-related emergencies to help pastoralist communities facing worsening drought conditions.
The leaders said the drought situation across the region was deteriorating, leaving many families struggling to access food and water, with some pastoralists forced to move their livestock in search of pasture and water.
Garissa County Woman Representative Udgoon Siyad called on the government to review its earlier emergency response plans and redirect the food reserves to communities currently affected by drought.
She appealed to the National Drought Management Authority (NDMA), the Kenya Red Cross and other humanitarian agencies to intensify assistance to affected communities, warning that some families had been forced to migrate in search of support.
Balambala MCA Abdirahman Borr called on the government to activate special programmes and release allocations initially set aside for El Niño emergencies.
“We want to request the government to release the allocations that had been set aside for El Niño. We are already experiencing drought, and the food should be released now so that at least affected people can get something to eat,” Borr said.
He called for coordinated relief interventions, including food distribution and water provision, to cushion vulnerable households against the effects of the worsening drought.
The government had earlier activated nationwide preparedness measures ahead of the anticipated October–December 2026 El Niño rains, with the Kenya Meteorological Department forecasting a 99 per cent probability of above-normal rainfall during the season.
The preparations included pre-positioning emergency food and other relief supplies, identifying flood-prone areas, strengthening early warning systems and coordinating emergency responses with county governments and humanitarian agencies.
The IGAD Climate Prediction and Applications Centre (ICPAC) forecast a 90 per cent likelihood of enhanced rainfall over north-eastern Kenya, central and southern Somalia and southern Ethiopia, raising concerns about possible flooding and displacement in vulnerable areas.
The warning followed the 2023–2024 El Niño emergency, when 43 of Kenya’s 47 counties were affected, resulting in 175 deaths, 40 missing people and 384,216 displaced residents, according to the Ministry of Health.
However, drought-related food insecurity remains a major concern in northern Kenya. The September 2026 IPC analysis estimated that 2.7 million people in the country’s arid and semi-arid lands were facing crisis-level or worse food insecurity, including 348,000 in the Emergency category.
Garissa residents are now urging the government to redirect some of the emergency food reserves towards communities already struggling with drought.
Kheirow Yussuf, a local resident also appealed to the national government to intervene urgently, saying the drought had severely disrupted pastoralist livelihoods.
“We are appealing to the national government to come to our aid. The drought has affected people very badly, and communities need urgent assistance,” Yussuf said.
