The National Steering Committee on Drought Response has distributed food hampers to more than 85,000 people living in Samburu, Meru, Marsabit, Kilifi and Kitui Counties.

The drought response campaign dubbed “WaKenya Tulindane” gave the food to more than 14,000 households in Samburu East, Laisamis, Magarini, Igembe North and Kitui North Sub-counties.

This is the first food distribution drive by the taskforce since its formation in November by President William Ruto.

Last week, The Drought Response Taskforce announced that over KES 600 million had been raised so far in a joint effort to support Kenyans impacted by the harsh effects of the ongoing drought.

“We are happy to announce that residents from some of the severely affected counties will receive food hampers to last them several months. This is part of our efforts to support our Kenyan brothers and sisters impacted by the drought especially during this festive season,” said National Steering Committee on Drought Response Chairperson Peter Ndegwa.

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He added, “We appreciate the donations received so far and request well-wishers to continue supporting vulnerable Kenyans facing the ongoing drought.”


Other well-wishers wishing to donate to the appeal fund can do so via M-Pesa PayBill 880990 using their name as the account number or through the National Drought Mitigation Appeal Fund under KCB Bank, Riverside branch through account number 1305486137.

The PayBill will also be available to Airtel Money and Telkom’s T-Kash subscribers.

One 24kg food hamper goes for Sh3,500, which includes the cost of packaging, logistics and distribution, can feed a family for a month.

President Ruto announced the formation of the committee to lead the nationwide efforts to mitigate the impact of the drought situation in the country.

The committee’s mandate goes beyond just addressing the short-term interventions to cushion those adversely affected by the drought through food and cash donations.

For the current emergency needs, the campaign’s interventions include distribution of food hampers to cushion the affected persons from the effects of the ongoing drought.


According to the National Drought Management Authority (NDMA), the drought situation has continued to ravage the 21 of the 23 Arid and Semi-Arid lands (ASAL) counties.

This ravaging drought has been attributed to the four failed consecutive seasons of heavy rains as well as the late onset and poor distribution of the 2022 short rains season.

The number of those in need of food aid in Kenya currently stands at 4.35 million.

They 14 counties are namely; Laikipia, Marsabit, Garissa, Isiolo, Kilifi, Kwale, Samburu, Tana River, Tharaka Nithi, Turkana, Wajir, Kitui, Kajiado and Mandera are classified under Alarm drought phase, seven (7) counties including Embu, Narok, Taita Taveta, Makueni, Meru, Nyeri and Lamu are in the Alert drought phase.

The remaining two counties - Baringo and West Pokot - are in Normal drought phase.

Acute malnutrition has also been noted across the affected counties with 942,000 cases of children aged 6-59 months acutely malnourished and 134,000 cases of pregnant or lactating women acutely malnourished and in need of treatment.