Analysis - Flooding claimed many lives and left hundreds of thousands displaced, dispossessed and angry at the authorities who failed them.
Flooding claimed many lives and left hundreds of thousands displaced, dispossessed and angry at the authorities who failed them.
Climate change amplifies fragility. The May flooding had already compounded socio-economic problems and fomented discontent when, on 25 June, Ruto passed a finance bill that sparked mass protests and calls for his resignation. The government's response - deploying the military and disbanding the Cabinet - has failed to rebuild public trust.
East Africa is particularly vulnerable to climate impacts, which have been increasingly severe and are forecast to worsen. From 2020-23, over 50 million people were impacted by the longest drought in 40 years in Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia. Torrential rains, high-energy storms, flooding and locusts have further plagued the region.to 2.8 per year, up from 0.5 a year between 1964 and 1999. Severe flooding and landslides displaced 160 000 people in 2019 andin 2023.
Kenya's government should follow the principle of subsidiarity, which holds that decisions are best taken at the closest possible level to the affected citizens. It should equip local county governments with the capacity and resources to include disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation in their planning and responses.
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