NEWSGANG | Rain fell upon the earth

[Music] we are well into an anxious 24 hours of projected heavy rains across the countries and hours ago a massive power failure struck the country plunging most parts of the nation into an electricity blackout which Kenya power attributes to a system disturbance of the grid and earlier today the weatherman announced that Cyclone hiah is making its way to the Kenyon Coast a prospect that will compound an already complicated weather season and rough weather is also predicted in the direction of Agriculture CS Mitha linturi a man on the spot over the fake fertilizer scam what does parliament have at its sleeves on K Kai's kicker the newly inaugurated buong Tower may not be enough for buong on jamila's memo the ministry of education's midnight escapades left parents insulted and embarrassed on Sam sense does it make sense to fix our drainage and leave out IBC and on my take the irony of Maximum taxes and minimum wages this is news gang [Music] and that 48 hour deadline has now lapsed asking people to move to what is now becoming proverbial Higher Ground ladies and gentlemen welcome to the program the hashtag is news gang at Citizen TV Kenya and our respective Twitter handles um X sorry I'm I'm old it's it's taking a while welcome Jamila let's begin with the latest so you know this is an evolving situation um what do we know especially with the latest the latest numbers the latest crisis that we're dealing with with the floods uh even as it stands uh today the latest statistics are 38 Counties have been affected this has gone up by one we were 37 I think yesterday or the day before and then the number of dead is 188 that is according to uh uh government um uh statistics we have 40 over 48,000 families that have been affected that Loosely translates to about 293,000 people with Statistics usually they multiply the number of families by five that's that's the average and then we have about 156,000 people have been displaced the number of missing is about 133 this Statistics are from the Red Cross and we have seen how the rains have been remember the the WEA man said that we're going to witness um heavy rainfall in Nairobi and parts of centr and some areas in the country from today all the way to the weekend and of course the story we just heard about Cyclone hi and what that may mean for us as it hits the Kenyan coast and in it's important to note that also our neighbors in Tanzania also facing the same uh situation they have about 155 people who've died they have about 100 almost 200,000 people have been displaced they saying the same things we are asking people to move to Higher Ground and and and and for them um of course this weather phenomena was predicted by the med Department in as early as July 2023 yeah and at the I want you to pause on that because we'll use that for compar um you know what Tanzania did how they handled this uh the whole idea of early warning systems and what you do with that once you get that warning um but you know so those are the latest statistics and it's it's difficult to hear that 188 people have died in in the span of less than a month yes I mean you know first at the beginning of this year it was that the number of dead through Road accidents uh which for the first quarter I think surpassed apparently the number of people who died during the covid pandemic you know in the country now we have added another 188 in in a short span of less than a month um but now you know the question is okay so that's what we know what about the response what what have we seen uh Sam from from government as as well as others there's been a few questions about that we've seen the president uh giving a 48 hour deadline to move to Higher Grounds cabinet secretary malonza said the same thing move to Higher Grounds where is this Higher Ground Higher Ground I'm I'm tempted to think of you know there's there's a Christian Hy around you know Higher Ground but maybe that's not what this one is right I think the biggest challenge has been when you look at this crisis since it started I think it has deepened the past two weeks the biggest challenge has been the preparedness on the side of the people on the side of government because I remember again the very first time that we heard of flooding which I was I think very early last week um it is people people driven responses is what we're witnessing whether it's the question of what happened in t River when you saw that boat capsizing it is the people that are there that are responding if you look at even um I think yes M Madar in Nairobi County if you to look at the images of Sultan hammud that Lor that was um fing sand and there were people that were on it it is the local residents that are responding again if you look at the situation that what happened in mayah it is the people around that area that are responding if you look at moranga County g w during the M slide again it is the people so there's there's there's a bit of in as much as disaster doesn't tell you we coming there's a bit of failure to use the projections that have come from um the Kenya meteorological Department because every time they release um a projection they always give instructions on what should be done they always say that people that are living in areas that are prone to floods should avoid moving or walking or driving in the water they talk about people that are living in areas that are prone to mudslide and Landslide they should keep off um or they should move out they as them to move to Higher Ground so on that front and also the Comm iation that was coming from the government was not was not sufficient because yes these statements from the meterological Department they are made public yes they are specifically sent to the president to the cabinet secretary in charge of climate and environment Affairs that is soya and other departments but then how that information is cascaded to the people for them to be aware whether it's through um Public Communication on the different platforms that we have in the country that has not been very sufficient or very efficient and that is why even when you talk about I remember on Monday morning when G happened in in banga County and also was speaking to our reporter an gig in nakuru who was telling us about some two Villages that had been swept by the floods and she was still trying to get to understand what exactly had happened now the aftermath of it when you look at the pictures you sort of see how devastating it has been so nobody prepared for that but also in the response it has not been as timely as you'd have expected especially when it comes to even saving those people whose lives may be at the highest danger it has been wanting and I one can only hope that this can improve but then again even as she says about um um the warning that within 48 hours that people are supposed to move out again now there's another statement from the interior Ministry uh which actually in my opinion when I look at it it is more useful because it it even lists the dams that are at risk I think the number is 178 and it's telling them that within 24 hours from 6:30 p.m. on the 2nd of May that means by 6:30 p.m. tomorrow these people must have moved out of their areas if they will not have left then there will be mandatory evacuation or mandatory movement or forceful movement that should happen so now we getting to the point of what do you say enhanced communication especially on the areas that you're talking about because um I remember on this week there's uh a panelist who was saying that um there's an old who was saying that they're not going to leave if they're going to leave their go behind and it's it's it's that place of they value so much what they possess or what they own but they don't have sufficient information or sufficient sensitization to make them see the danger that lacks around them and now with that statement of the cabinet secretary if properly communicated then I think it's the start of a proper um preparedness when it comes to response to the situation that we witness yeah and you know you were talking about community if you see what happened in madare when you know all hell broke loose and that's symptomatic of a community that understands the absence of government and the absence of authority so they've built such a strong social Community Network that they know what to do they mobilize each other they know who they're looking for they know where they're looking uh for for their missing loved ones and and that for me is whilst it's admirable but it does speak to a group of people who know that you know you have your back and and that nobody is coming to rescue you or save you the other thing about this 48 hour deadline that I find interesting is when the wording and the framing so we're asking people to move to Higher Ground um where where do you go um I would imagine the idea would be we are evacuating people from their homes and we have set up uh centers at Social Halls at schools at churches um we've set up temporary structures that are on that Higher Ground so rather than telling people you've got 48 hours to move why not evacuate them because evacuating implies that you have a plan for them you have a safe house a safe space uh from where you can you know attend to their needs um to hunker down you know for whatever is coming but that's what I find interesting it almost seems like you are you know left like there's a bite on that I think maybe we listen to that before Lena speaks U we should listen to bite 10 this is from residents of our village in yandar are speaking today um I'm Lenas maybe you can you can pick on what she says she's talking about how the schools are supposed to go to are flooded they don't know where to go where they're being asked to loc relocate to is inhabitable for them and I think there the information that uh the very elaborate statement from the ministry of interior just fell short of giving because they have given uh a statement that is about 54 53 pages long um indicating even which areas high risk and which ones are not and um in paragraph six uh they talk of putting adequate shelter the ministry talks of adequate shelter that's that's CS Kiki uh adequate shelter as well as food and non food essential supplies to all those that will be affected and then government will facilitate assembly points for those vacating or being evacuated and logistical support to reach the reception centers where the temporary shelter and other forms of support will be provided so from the statement from uh the Cs interior and National Administration Kiki uh Professor Kiki uh there is some indication that these assembly points are actually uh known only that they are not in the in the statement and this will be so so important especially in the next 12 to 25 hours when the vacation orders are in force because you need a lady like that who was asking where where do I go to know where to go yeah and uh what we've realized in the past few days is no information is too little or unimportant uh because we've also seen some really wrong calls on the part of members of the public uh wrong calls for example just deciding to drive um over a flooded area uh be it a bridge or just some uh flooded area or even on the advice to move to uh Higher Ground you know it doesn't help to ask where do I go I think be on the Move first M uh and and you know these are some of the things that um uh one would probably like to see the public responding better to uh emergency messages because if if they don't then uh the consequences uh can be uh can be quite severe yeah that's right and um so let's talk about this early warning systems and and and you know no doubt this is something that's been seen everywhere I mean you know Dubai had it recently uh and like you were saying Jamila Tanzania also had uh the same thing how are they dealing uh you know with this issue right now they they have lost people even about 155 people but their raids started late last year the raids started pounding I think sometime in late October early November and it's been going on till till this year there have different provinces that that are affected and uh for them when the when the weatherman gave the warning in July of 2023 they actually took steps to have um representatives of of the Met Department go from one Province to another to try and sensitize people leadership of those are has to tell them this is coming and we need to start taking action to minimize uh the loss and Dage that will be experienced because of the alinear phenomena that is coming and and even on to some extent maybe that's what we should have done I know um the politics of it aside when the first warning did come um sometime in end of October and then we had um the leadership of the country saying that really there's no ELO do you know one of the effects of of that was that Aid agencies that had heeded uh the warning from the med Department about the Reigns hadu started getting themselves ready collecting funds you know mobilizing the food the transportation you know all that they need staff so they'd be able to respond when it does hit but then when when the statement comes that it's we the re we are going to experience Al not ELO what does that mean even for donors the donors who are going to fund some of these projects they're going to fund this Aid organizations they're saying well the government would know better that whatever is coming will not be as bad as you say it came from the highest it came from the highest office and that's one of the things that that they would ask that why do you need the extra money or the extra funding you're asking for for something that's not even going to happen and then one you talk about the response we me we talked about response and how uh people are being U helped where they are I think some of the aid organizations for instance like Red Cross are doing a better job to some extent than the government is in terms of reaching people where they are how are they doing this even the boats remember even the boards in the cities were seeing it they're using um of course they have there are people in the ground in different areas and they did heed what the weatherman said said MH what the reports said areas that are prone to this and that early enough to be able to go and even start even um taking down registering people in those areas those would be affected and they really use the local community in terms of like finding out who's who maybe they can say mama fani has a sick child we forgot to include please include her in the list and who you and they use that list to be able to actually distribute Aid to people and I actually asked what is in the humer that we see that you're giving people food right and I was told there's 15 K of there's 3 to 4 K of Mahar andu there's a l of oil there's also cooking salt so by the time you're given that um it'll be able to sustain you for a bit so there's a structured way of how they do it yeah in fact in Masai Mara we had the tourists who are um who are in trouble in Maroon but you also had Villages that are actually marooned um somewhere called TK yeah it's one of the areas that and then somewhere in magadii there's a village called actually it was difficult for them to get there they actually airdropping food so they actually have mechanisms for this to be able to deliver food to those who really need it um government is making efforts in some of these places but I don't see like it's as structured as some of these organizations are in terms of actually the food maybe 50 kilos of and all that but then one those vas will expect some form of payment maybe they'll get their ration and someone else's and there's a local Administration the the sick the more vulnerable the can't make a grab yeah it's a grab there's actually no structure in terms of who will get what so I think the this this this way of approaching things having listened to what uh experts had said and then um taking up action based on that is maybe what we should be doing yeah and Lena listening to The Experts um is that something we have done very well I think we talked about it here last week on the program that um a lot These Warnings were given as early Jamil as as end of July early August 203 yeah almost a year ago um but lenus then what did we do with this expert um advice and information and early warning we do not listen to experts and um the first illustration really is how the meterological department has been treated and uh um there's one thing that really should stand out about the director Dr gungo and that is he has been able to be consistent in his message uh right from uh uh back in the days and I just want us Robert to listen to um uh our sound bit we want to look back to how we first received this information about uh the weather and then there was a back and forth between the Met department and the highest political offices of the state house so let's listen to one and two before we go to Dr gungo [Applause] so that we have another Harvest by January or February we have had a long meeting about the station in the country the rains the floods the displacements and the confusions surrounding the whole Space whether there is El Nino or not whether there is above rain or not and the all of that maybe before I make the statement on behalf of the team that we have met I want to call call the director of metrological Department to tell the country what it is thank you your Excellency um I want to point out that uh as initially given in the forecast we have ero in this short range season 2023 and we do apology for the lack of communication or miscommunication because uh that was a big mistake but uh we are sorry about that and moving forward let's prepare ourselves for the enhanced rainfall as a result of the the the elino phenomenon that we are in at this time so enhanced rain rainfall and then there is an apology which I'm not sure what the apology was but he started off by saying I want to confirm there is yes yeah and I apologize for that or for the misin for the for the misinformation that might have yeah yeah yes and then um not I think that's recently we then spoke to Dr gungu again it was actually shortly after that shortly after that when he asked him yes yeah yeah and let's listen to him I have to ask this darari before we let you go because a lot of Kenyans were asking what was behind the miscommunication that led to you know the back and forth on the elino forecast I hope one day I'll find out the truth but you're the weatherman yes I am the weatherman so was the science wrong no did someone just decide to Robert I know there's a blackout but that's not it I think that is that is from our end and that is the voice of uh Dr gongu Who who ion I think has been very consistent yeah and I think one of the key learnings that uh once a country gets over this uh emergency one of the key learnings really is to use our experts better listen to them more closely and uh act as per their advice because look they are Guided by pure science that is what the science of the of whether reporting and and I think that's what Dr gungu has been very very um consistent with you know it's a non-political space uh the space of Science and and we'll try and and fix that clip and and and get it to play again but he did talk about how you know these are scientists and they sit in their space and they don't just um sit down and make these predictions by themselves they also consult widely with their counterparts you know in the region on the continent and across the globe there is the world meterological organization that the Kenya met department is a member of so these are not things that are you know sort of said and and done in a localized situation um and and just to point out that he did say uh much earlier last year that these Reigns this El Nino this enhanced rainfall above average rainfall you know we're quibbling over terminologies but he did warn that this would actually go into April well we're just two days out of that um but followed by en followed by enhanced rainfall but then see what happens we rubbish them we parade them in front of the country and say come here and apologize we have and so that then wonders if you said that then of course all of the billions that were set aside um you know distributed to the county some to other agencies um you know within government that that are to do with this one can only imagine that after it comes from the highest office in the land but then everybody says well okay yeah good you know and and well look um death is inevitable and and a lot of this is also natural disaster but you do have to wonder if we might have been maybe better prepared or responded earlier or listened and maybe started to put in place more uh Preparatory measures um perhaps people would still have died would it have been to this extent perhaps property would have been damaged for sure would it have been to this extent um you know this is maybe something to just add to that conversation the back and forth six months ago and if you recall there had been the warning of Elo the deputy president had organized a meeting with County Governors and they had arrived at a figure of some 10 billion Shillings that was required to respond to the phenomenon that was being awaited then the president came out and said that uh we have prayed and there's not going to be theous situation or the phenomenon itself it's only that we're going to have more rainfall then shortly after the situation started hitting the country and therefore the deputy president held a meeting and I think at that time the president was away he traveled out of the country and it's it felt like this was an opportunity to correct what uh wrong and impression had been created by the sentiments of the state officers that time and therefore when the deputy president was calling yungu to come and make the apology then it sounded clearly like that to just restore the original communication and therefore continue to make a case for now the response that was going to happen but if you recall at that time the political class was very critical of the request for 10 billion Shillings by the counties it felt like maybe they're asking for resources for misuse and if you recall there even plans of how different counties are going to um spend the resources on including procuring some boats for some cities to be in a position to wait through the waters um so there was a lot of political interference in that communication from the meterological department and of course it cannot be overstated the fact that um even reading a weather Focus that has been sent from the Kenya meterological Department you cannot read it with a political lens or a political viewfinder if you try to do that then you're going to miss it because part of it is technical but then there's a point where it gets to the instructions or the warning questions that or the warning that is being given to different offices or different persons that would be affected by the um phenomenon they are talking about yeah I I want to listen to his clarification sorry to interrupt but I think it'll uh make your point much clearer you know the clip that we had before we got the blackout let's listen to it again with Dr gungu from the Met Department clarifying on this back and forth misinformation disinformation enhanced and whatever let's listen Dr before we let you go because a lot of Kenyans were asking what was behind the miscommunication that led to you know the back and forth on the elino for forecast I hope one day I'll find out the truth but you're the weatherman yes I am the weatherman so was the science wrong no did someone just decide to the statements we've been giving what you would call official communication have not suggested in in increase or decline or anything that would withdraw the enino phenomenon and uh um all I know is that uh people have associated elino with rainfall almost to the extent of calling rainfall elino which is not the case and that is why I take the trouble to explain that it is a signal and it has to be coupled with other signals for it to to to to to form rainfall in excess as we are seeing now because there are also other places that when we have ano season or event as we are having now to to to those places such as Australia it's drought yeah when they hear that uh the forast suggests and you know they prepare themselves for drought and it is very important to put into contact what he saying because he's talking about the official communication and the communication he indicates the message is addressed to the following yes the presidency cabinet secretary environment principal secretary environment National Intelligence service government spokesperson Kenya ril Cross Kenya Maritime Authority Kenya Ports Authority Kenya Airport Authority National disaster Operation Center National disaster management um unit media relevant government Ministries Council of Governors County directors of meterological services it doesn't say anywhere politicians yeah unless you lead a certain office that is listed there so it was such a loss and obviously Having learned how miscommunication or misinformation can lead to failure to plan one would have expected that this rainy season that was projected to be more enhanced at sometimes above normal rainfall the recordings that have been taken in the month of April and we're looking at that on data point that would show we have broken every Trend in the past apart from one area which is voy that we've received rainfall that is lower than the average over the past many years you look at so many regions across the country have actually received rainall that is more than double what on average they have been receiving so if you to look at the patterns because the month of April the data they have is up to 26th of April but the first two weeks so by the first 3 weeks it should have been possible to project and see this is where this rainf for is headed and this is what needs to be done again getting back to the question of for instance what transpired in my Mah and of course you speak to different sources and they tell you yes there was GES that were filling up what was collecting and forming what could be could appear like a dumb of course if you to look at the definition of dam then it might be because the dam is you just need to put a barrier that stops what from moving but they will tell you that they had seen a lot of things then again you wonder if the Kenya Railway what is the name the Kenya Railways limited um is in charge of the Railway um never mind that it's over a century old what do they do um in monitoring that infrastructure that piece of infrastructure because because that might have been the first warning right that there was something happen because if you have roads in the country for instance you have the expressway if something happens and it did happen last year when when there were demonstrations and there was a bill put there of how much it was going to repair it and indeed it was repaired so the Kenya Railway Railways um what do they do on a daily basis when they monitoring the truck all the way from Mombasa to malaba what do they do because if things have been developing over the years if the GES have been blocking or the tunnels have been blocking over the years and accumulation of water and you know there's a heavy downpour that is that is coming Heavy Rain that is coming what are you thinking as you manage that resource because probably like you asked the question could we have probably mitigated the effects of some of these things if that had been seen and there was a responsible official or officer that is able to see that and advise the relevant Authority probably action may have been taken to at least reduce what we really suffered or maybe not with the way we've we've we've handled the early warning on this one I I think even one one of the of the things that could be hampering our efforts to actually be prepared to tackle disaster is a lack of a law we do not have a national disaster management law because if there was an institution that was charged with this that would be under law maybe we'd be able to handle better money is allocated for disasters but it's allocated to Governor's Office women so there isn't really um an institution that looks at at at National disaster in 2017 actually uh the then is County women repa galgalo sponsored the first ever disaster management bill it did not see the light of day and some of the things that was in that bill was establishing a disaster risk management Authority so it's supposed to work with the County government and the national government to deal with catastrophes and also offer advice in terms of risk management measures it also wanted to have a disk dis disaster risk management fund that's supposed to provide money for things like disaster preparedness mitigation response and Recovery a lot of things there a lot of proposals the government would be compiled toay into a fund which is not less than 2% of its total revenue in addition to any Aid or assistant that will be received to manage disaster in the country this Bill had so much in it in in terms of even forming County disaster risk management committees that will be ched by the governor so at least you're able to manage it in that in the county setting but then uh it is now called the national disaster risk management bill of 2023 that was sponsored by leader of majority kimman shunga and it was Bill number 24 of 2023 now it went through the first reading on August 9 2023 and stopped there so there are some efforts by counties to come up with what they call the County Fire and Rescue Services act that bill was passed by some counties but then they asked to relax the process until there a national government do have an act so you see now what how many disasters do we need for us to eventually do this because I mean we've had elino even since 1998 I mean or how many more people have to I don't know that's the thing because we grapple we we we grapple with disasters when they happen um we don't know yeah I mean it may be new and unique in in terms of the extent and and whatever but this is not new but clearly and it's unfortuna on that um the Constitution it has shared functions and function number 24 of the national government is to deal with the disaster function number 12 of the counties is to deal with firefighting and disaster they're supposed to be dealing with storm waterers that is the County government so if the functions have been assigned by the Constitution to both levels of government even if there's no Act of parliament to really guide how that is supposed to be done if you're told that one of your duties is to wake up and go to work you don't need you need a law you you don't need a law that but I I I want to um yeah yeah I think there's something we're forgetting around the desk here and that is uh uh something someone advised that government is not an agon anti oh so wow but on a more uh pertinent uh note yes the scale of disasters also matter and uh this is ably Kenya's worst in h history it's bigger in in scale the amount of water the sheer amount of water that um our functioning and uh um basically drainage system is dealing with is not precedented it's it's it's um completely unprecedented so there's obviously the bit where um you could almost say no one is to blame this is this is huge but of obviously what uh Kenyans would always question is our emergency response protocols yeah uh are they sound are they prepared for days like this and for those saying government is not uh aonan actually governments exist for days like this um the reason we have government is because there are challenges that are greater than those that family can handle um yakumi can handle that is why you have this pool of strength called government where you put in money and you put in your taxes uh hire people hire advisers pay them you know to come up with the best decisions um on days like this and um on days like this that's not what you tell the public you don't tell them that um they shouldn't look for ER answers from government because governments actually exist uh for for days like this and I'm actually tempted to um just speculate what could President William Ruto be telling the country tomorrow afternoon when he addresses the nation at 1 1 p.m. um it certainly has something that may have uh overlooked some of these opinions about government not being uh an agon anti and I think the president May uh rightly and correctly um stand and turn up uh as per the occasion uh look at how the country is we are in the middle of a massive potential potentially massive disaster and speak to the plans that government has to um to address I mean when you look at the the uh post flood scenario you know this is just we're just in the beginning of a huge problem that we'll have to work with for a number of months going forward um start with the families that have been completely uh displaced uh we all remember the images from my Maho yeah um those are real people those are fellow Kenyans homes have been swept off and and you know basically reduced to uh be land how do they recover now the humanitarian disaster alone now unfolding it's now unfolding then the second bit uh something that um and you you engaged CS mom the other day here about the infrastructure bit uh um the infrastructure has taken quite a bitting uh there are bridges that will need to be uh replaced there are roads like the Gara at MoGo area yeah MoGo area that really have to be uh redone so and you know you we've been talking about our financial situation we don't have money for this we have pending bills now we have pending problems you know waiting to be uh to be addressed and um who but a perfect Agony ant to address this yeah you know the humanitarian crisis that's unfolding there will be disease cholera outbreaks and other waterbone diseases that uh you know are on the way um remember we've just uh what happens to the Harvest and and people who' planted because there are some places where Farms have been completely uh submerged in in this Deluge so that means the cost of food the cost of living is about to rise the cost of living will also rise I mean if the government needs to look for money to repair all of that damaged infrastructure so I mean like you say we're at the start of something and and about being a you know an Agony an we delegate power and authority and we give resources to the government to work on our behalf so yes government is our agon on and we will call it what you want wine winge whatever it is because we delegate that authority to them they do not have power over us they answer to the people because it's delegated powers and Authority hopefully one day uh we will remember that and they're there as for public service um and we employ them and we dutifully pay our taxes sometimes without um uh with no choice but listen what we're going through is unprecedented we also experienc something unprecedented uh not to long ago and that was uh the death of a chief of Defense Forces while in office um but perhaps unlike what we've seen here there's been an orderly manner in which that has been handled in that transition we'll come and talk about that as well as the ongoings in Parliament this is new

Channel: Citizen TV Kenya

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Length: 41min 46sec (2506 seconds)

Published: Thu May 02 2024