In the pastoral village of Gari in Mandera County, hit by a severe drought, hungry thirsty residents are hoping the clear skies would open up to give them a lifeline - water.

“There is no food to eat; our earthly wealth (livestock) will be wiped out of the surface of the earth if things go on the way they are. We pray to the Almighty for things to change because for Him all is possible,” said 55-year-old Ahmed Mohamed, a resident.

For Ahmed and other residents of Gari, they are staring death in the eye as ministers and MPs engage in a war of words of whether to declare the drought that is ravaging northern Kenya a national disaster.

“Our MPs and ministers are doing nothing to address our problems; they are gambling with our lives,” Ahmed said.

At this time last year, Ahmed was a very rich man - at least by the community’s standards - but today, he says, he’s been reduced to a pauper. “I have lost about 300 goats in just three months. It is really painful that I am now begging; I often travel to Mandera town to seek handouts from relatives,” he said.

Same everywhere

The situation is not any different in the neighbouring Wargadud village and the entire Mandera County.

“All the major water pans have dried up except Banisa and Takaba pans which are expected to dry up in the next two weeks. Over 75 trading centres are in dire need of water trucking to save lives and livelihoods,” said Benson Leparmoji, Mandera East District Commissioner said. “Previously, the Arid Lands Resource Management project used to provide water trucking. In the past few months, the organisation has not received adequate funding; it really is a problem.”

The Kenya Red Cross Society which has won an accolade for its effective interventions in mitigating the effects of the droughts has termed the severe drought as a disaster.

While launching sh1.9 billion appeal to aid the affected population, Kenya Red Cross Secretary General, Abass Gullet, said about 1.8 millions are affected by the severe droughts.

"The Prime Minister of Ethiopia has declared (drought) a national disaster and in fact Kenyans mainly in Mandera are crossing to Ethiopia. This tells you our situation is worse,” Abass told reporters recently.

A drastic decline in the prices of livestock is not helping the situation either

“I have never found myself in this situation; I sold three goats for Sh1,500, a sack of maize goes for Sh1,300; the balance will not be enough to take care of my two families. It is only Allah who can save us,” said 35- year-old Abdullahi Abdi. “We haven’t received any support from the government; we are still waiting for them. It is shameful that our ministers are busy driving big cars ostensibly to assess the situation when people are dying of hunger,” a visibly angry Abdullahi said.

Worse situation

The father of three who ekes a living as a pastoralist says the situation is even made worse because they can’t cross over to the neighbouring countries for help. “There is nowhere to go; this is the first time the drought has hit all the three countries - Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia. Previously, whenever we faced similar problems, we used to run to either Ethiopia or Somalia but today we are all in the same boat of desperation,” he added.

Kenya's Special Programmes minister Esther Murugi recently told Parliament that the number of Kenyans who are in need of food might double in the next three months. There are 1.6 million Kenyans who are currently being fed by the World Food Programme.

A community elder in Wajir, Adan Garad, said a major crisis is in the offing unless something is done and quickly to address the plight of pastoralists whose lives have been wrecked. “Pastoralists have moved to Wajir town with their livestock. Many of them are helpless. We haven’t seen any efforts to alleviate their problems,” Adan said.

He says similar crises can be averted in future if the government put in place efficient drought early warning systems.“Here in Wajir, the District Steering Group in charge of assessing the food security in the area warned of possible famine if the rains fail; the government did not act upon it,” Adan said.