Ruto Summons All CSs For Urgent Cabinet Meeting

President William Ruto has announced that he has convened an urgent Cabinet meeting slated for Monday, November 27.

Speaking at State House while announcing the Disaster Response on Saturday, November 25, Ruto revealed that the agenda of the meeting would focus on the after-effects of the El Nino rains, which he has revealed has led to the death of 70 people.

Furthermore, over 36,160 people have been displaced after the rains wreaked havoc in different parts of the country.

"Taking into account the situation in the country now to do with our roads, the food situation, the water situation, the medicine delivery situation in Kenya, the Cabinet will meet on Monday to deliberate on the various recommendations that have been made to ensure the country is better prepared for the management of the situation that we see unfolding," the Head of State announced.

The President further revealed that the situation across the country regarding the El Nino rains has morphed into an emergency situation, with many roads across the country, especially in the Northern part of Kenya, washed away.

"There are trucks stuck everywhere with food, medicines and fuel that are now unable to reach the destinations in various parts of the country," he continued.

The President immediately sanctioned a multi-agency approach to deal with the prevailing situation head-on, consisting of Ministries such as Roads and Health, led by Transport Cabinet Secretary (CS) Kipchumba Murkomen and his Health counterpart, Susan Nakhumicha.

"Immediately the National Disaster Operation Centre has been rolled into place and senior government officials would move there including those from the various agencies, the military, Ministry of Roads and Council of Governors (CoG) and all other stakeholders including the Ministry of Health to make sure that we coordinate all the information, receive reports from various parts of the country, process that information and make sure that adequate interventions are in place to manage the situation across the country," he directed.

Ruto announced that he also instructed the Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) to airlift any commodities required in different parts of Kenya, especially the last-mile deliveries in the counties that are now marooned by floods.

He also revealed that he struck an agreement with the Ministry of Roads to have all contractors deployed on an emergency intervention basis to deal with the many roads destroyed so far as a result of the raging floods.

"All the road contractors in the different parts of Kenya will now be mobilised to provide emergency intervention services to make sure that roads are opened in different parts of Kenya and we are going to mobilise the resources necessary to make sure that contractors on the ground in different parts of Kenya are mobilised for emergency intervention activities," he added.

He was speaking hours after the Mombasa-Malindi highway was rendered impassable after a section of the Mbogolo bridge was washed away by raging floods.

The road was completely cut off after floods destroyed the approach road on the Mombasa side. Another section of the highway was submerged in water and rendered impassable at Mtondia a few kilometers from Kilifi town.

President Ruto had earlier joined First Lady Rachel Ruto in extending their condolences to families that have lost their loved ones from the ongoing heavy rains, the last being a tragedy where eight people reported to have attended Rachel's 14th Anniversary of the Joyful Women Organization (JOYWO) at the Kasarani Stadium on Thursday in Nairobi drowned in a flooded river while on their way home.

An image of flooded waters at River Muooni along Kavuthu-Mutyambua Road. /CITIZEN DIGITAL