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Flood Victims to Work for Relief Food

The East African Standard (Nairobi)
NEWS
April 16, 2004
Posted to the web April 16, 2004

By Alfred Oduor
Nairobi
Flood victims in Nyando District must work for relief food and other
provisions, District Commissioner Hassan Farrah said yesterday.
He said victims are being encouraged to pay back in kind for the relief goods
distributed by the Government.
Farrah said able-bodied victims would be asked to do manual work for food.
The DC said that even though the government was taking charge in specialised
civil works and transport, casualties of the floods are to be asked to chip in
with manual labour.
"It is a process we hope will help integrate the flood victims in the wider
programme of finding a lasting solution to the problem they live with
annually," Farrah added.
He said the victims would be employed to dig trenches to drain waterlogged
swamps for food rations.
The Government has disbursed 960 bags of maize and 240 bags of beans to the
Nyando victims, where the raging floods have displaced thousands.
A lot of work remains to be done in clearing river channels and building
embankments.
The DC disclosed that relief committees have been formed in all villages
affected by floods.
For transparency and accountability, women have been asked to chair the relief
committees, Farah said, adding: "We want only women to chair these committees
because the men are likely to end up selling the relief food."
He said the committees must ensure that only those who work get the food.
Farah said distribution of the food to various committees in the affected areas
starts today.
The Government will also disburse additional rations of maize and beans.
Engineers in the district floods control committee are on a 24-hour floods
surveillance.
Authorities also warned of imminent famine in the affected areas where large
tracts of farmlands were destroyed by the floods.
At least 600 hectares of rice have been submerged since the start of the
floods, which have also displaced 6,000 people in Nyanza Province.
About 1, 800 more victims were reported displaced on Wednesday in Kisumu after
River Mahenya - a tributary of River Nyando - burst its banks.

   

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