Flooding is currently a global issue, let's not politicise it: CS Malonza

Speaking on Citizen TV’s JKLive Show on Wednesday, CS Malonza revealed the extent of the current flooding countrywide caused by the heavy rains saying it was not an isolated issue in Kenya but regional and global.

Malonza told off the government critics underscoring that most East African Countries and others in the continent had also experienced the same loss of lives and property as a result of the rains.

She went on to note that the situation was similar in the Middle East, Europe and South America with Dubai, Germany and Brazil experiencing the wrath of floods respectively.

“Let’s stop politicizing this agenda of this flooding because as we talk, it’s not only Kenya, Tanzania has lost and is losing quite a number of people; by yesterday it was 155, we have seen South Africa has lost quite a number of people, we see Burundi, Brazil, Dubai and Germany. This is a global thing, it’s not a Kenyan thing,” said Malonza.

“The situation is not very good, we have around 109 families displaced and the death toll has risen to 52. We talked about El Nino rains that were running from November last year to January, we had a break and now we have long rains that started in March, they have turned out to be even worse.”

The CS thus reiterated that the government was fully prepared to deal with floods, as she urged the public to take caution.

The remarks by Malonza come amidst heavy criticism of the government regarding the response and plans to save lives during the ongoing rains.

So far, about 179 people have lost their lives since the heavy rains started with 164 being adults while 15 are children.

The national tally for the missing people is now at 90 after 20 more were reported missing within the last 24 hours, even as 195,011 people have also been displaced so far.