By Peter Ochieng
President William Ruto’s administration is set to conduct an assessment of the flooding situation in the country, ahead of school’s reopening on Monday next week.
The ministry of education on Thursday directed regional heads of education to evaluate the suitability of schools to facilitate education, in the face of the current circumstances.
The ministry led by Cabinet Secretary (CS) Ezekiel Machogu in a memo said the findings of assessment reports, will influence the decision to allow or not allow the reopening of schools for the second term.
Heavy downpour has led to manage of infrastructure in some schools around the country.
“The Ministry is in the process of collecting data or information to establish the readiness of all Basic Education Institutions for the second term of 2024,” the memo reads in part.
“The data on the effects of the rains and flooding will be crucial for planning and for sharing with the education in emergencies cluster working group.”
In the meantime, President William Ruto has warned that people living in areas prone to flooding will be moved.
Speaking during the official opening of the Sh9.6 billion Bunge Tower, Ruto said they will be moved whether they like it or not, in order to ensure that they do not endanger their lives.
“I will be having another emergency session tomorrow with multi-agency teams to make sure we provide adequate support to all those in need and to move citizens who are in dangerous areas that may be susceptible to floods. Unfortunately, we will have to move some of them without them agreeing because otherwise they put themselves in danger,” stated Ruto.
“I have authorized the National Youth Service to provide land for those who are living dangerously in some of these areas for them to be moved to safer grounds as we decide what to do with them.”
In some parts of the country, rivers have broken banks leading to displacement of scores of people.
Cabinet Secretary (CS) for Interior Kithure Kindiki acknowledges that several parts of the country are severely affected by the adverse effects of unrelenting rains.
He noted that his ministry has stepped up the coordination of multi-agency response interventions of relevant government ministries, departments and agencies, as well as humanitarian organizations to offer support to affected persons.
Kindiki says the National Police Service (NPS) is coordinating search and rescue operations by land and air, with the Kenya Red Cross is supplementing the measures.
The Kenya Coast Guard Service (KCGS) he said, has also been directed to step up its response operations.