Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua has called on Kenyans to contribute a percentage of their salaries to a drought response kitty.
Speaking during the Launch of the National Steering Committee on Drought Response on Friday, November 25, 2022, Gachagua alluded that the drive set to be launched soon will help save the lives of those affected by the adverse effects of drought across the country.
“We as a government are making a special appeal to all Kenyans and various stakeholders to support us in saving the lives and livelihoods of our people. We appeal to Kenyans of goodwill to contribute a percentage of their salaries to a pay bill number that will be established soon to contribute to the drought response kitty,” the DP stated.
The second-in-command also appealed to Kenyans in food-surplus counties to channel their contributions through the office of governors and respective commissioners who will work hand in hand with the task force set to be unveiled.
“We appeal to Kenyans in food-surplus counties to make their contributions to the office of governors and their respective county commissioners, the governors and country commissioners will work with the task force to be unveiled today, “Gachagua added.
At the same time, the former Mathira Member of Parliament (MP) noted that the contributions will only be made through official channels outlined by the task force committee and further cautioned cartels and fraudsters against taking advantage of the situation for their own benefit.
“There will be no parallel pay bill and means of contributing to this appeal other than the official channels that will be outlined by this committee by the end of the day,” he stated.
“We warn cartels, conmen and fraudsters who want to take advantage of this initiative to con Kenyans’ money. We want to tell conmen and fraudsters and all those people who want to take advantage of this very difficult situation that they will not feel peace in their lifetime,”he added.
Further, Gachagua announced that the Kenya Defence Force (KDF) officers had offered to forgo a one day’s salary to contribute to the response kitty and equally urged the media to lend a hand by popularising the initiative.
“Our men and women in the KDF have offered to forego a one-day salary to contribute to the drought response kitty. We send out a request to the media to make a financial or in-kind contribution in terms of airtime and newspapers space to popularise the appeal and the pay bill number,” he added.
