Gachagua, Kenya Met Correct Ruto's Remarks On El Nino Rains [VIDEO]

Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua has declared a new government stand on the ongoing El Nino rains following President William Ruto's remarks that the country would not experience the severe effects of the El Nino rains.

Speaking at Harambee House on Friday, November 10 while launching rain mitigation measures, the DP urged Kenyans to prepare in advance for the El Nino weather phenomenon, which triggers higher global temperatures and is expected to last until 2024.

"The matter is settled. El Nino, it is," he stated. 

Kenya Meteorological Department Director David Gikungu supported Gachagua's remarks by revealing that the country is experiencing El Nino.

DP Rigathi Gachagua, Kenya Meteorological Department Director David Gikungu, correct President Ruto's remarks on Kenya experiencing El Nino rains#ViralVideos pic.twitter.com/HPsIXbFZcf — Viral Tea Ke (@ViralTeaKe) November 10, 2023

During the same press briefing, he issued an apology regarding what he termed a miscommunication over the ongoing rains.

“I want to point out that as initially given in the forecast we have El Nino in this short rain season 2023 and we do apologize for the miscommunication because that was a big mistake and we are sorry.

Moving forward let us prepare for the enhanced rainfall as a result of the El Nino phenomenon that we are in,” said Gikungu.

Meanwhile, Gachagua announced that more than 19 counties have been affected by the heavy rains which have threatened lives and livelihoods countrywide.

“Efforts are ongoing on the documentation of missing persons, livestock lost and crops destroyed to the enhanced rains we will be making this data public once confirmed,” revealed Gachagua.

The DP further revealed that the government has taken a series of measures to reduce the negative impact of the rains including the deployment of aircraft by the Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) to facilitate the evacuation of families to safer grounds.

KDF will also deploy the aircraft to be used for the distribution of the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) papers in areas where the roads have become impassible.

He further noted that a multi-agency emergency response team was deployed to respond to incidents that may be deemed life-threatening during the rainy season.

"In working with our development partners, we are distributing food maize rice and cooking oil to families to reduce the suffering of affected families," Gachagua added.

"The KDF is running an operation centre at the KDF headquarters. The Ministry of Interior is providing a security response."

El Nino is a naturally occurring climate pattern typically associated with increased heat worldwide, as well as drought in some parts of the world and heavy rains elsewhere. This year, the phenomenon developed rapidly during July-August and was likely to peak between now and January.