Tullow Oil Donates Kshs.20 Million to Fight Drought in Turkana

Oil exploration and production company Tullow oil, has donated Kshs. 20 million to fight drought in Turkana County.

Speaking when he presented a cheque to Kenya Red Cross Society which is implementing the programme, Tullow Kenya Country Manager Martin Mbogo said the funds will be used to support School Feeding Programme. Early Childhood Education Centres in the county will also benefit from the funds.

Mbogo added that Tullow’s partner, Africa Oil has pledged to donate Kes. 20 million to be disbursed at a later date. He said Tullow has spent over Kes. 150 million, to support education, health and enterprise development as way of ensuring that the county realizes sustainable development.

He said the company had decided to channel the funds through Kenya Red Cross Society because it has a good track record. “Tullow is committed to transparency and we want to put everything on the table as far as the donation is concerned,” said Mbogo.

Speaking during the event, County Deputy Governor, Peter Ekai welcomed Tullow’s support and called on organizations working in the area to openly declare the support they have received towards the efforts to address the draught situation to promote transparency.

Ekai said the County Government will supervise the implementation of programmes aimed at helping persons affected by drought. He said once the drought is contained, the County all funds donated to mitigate the draught situation will be accounted for.
“There is enormous need for support and we appeal to partners not to wait until the last minute so that they can support us,” added Ekai.

Kenya Red Cross Society Deputy Secretary General James Kisia said the feeding programme provides a platform for directly addressing the children’s nutritional needs by fighting malnutrition and lack of essential micronutrients that affect childhood development.

He said KRCS is committed to transparency adding that, “it has a strong monitoring and evaluation unit which will be instrumental in ensuring efficient and effective implementation of the programme.” Kisia said it is seven times cheaper to attend to an emergency earlier than waiting until the last minute.

He however expressed concern that every two years the County attends to disasters. “The county needs a platform for early warning and early action to prevent these disasters,” said Kisia. He said there was need to develop infrastructure to ensure that the county is able to fight disasters. The School Feeding Programme will be implemented and monitored by the KRCS and the County Government of Turkana.

Story by Kenya News Agency