Flood havoc is a repeat offender, for the last 57 years & counting. How come we have never undertaken capability assessment of flood emergency planning & preparedness in Kenya. And based on the outputs of such, built a National Capability Framework ?
If it is not Budalangi, it is some place in Nyanza, Tana River, Narok, or even Nairobi a supposed capital city & seat of the National Government.Where as we speak, all that is lacking, in the likes of South C are whales, sharks & dolphins. As residential estates become submerged.
At the moment, we are way past the Prep'dness & or Prevention phases. So let's talk Response & with it our rescue capabilities as a Nation besieged not only, by various impeding disasters, but also poor foresight, reactive governance & myopic leadership.
Our bane as a Country is not lack of brains, it is mainly the not using them, yet God given. Why do we have @InteriorKE populated by the likes of @FredMatiangi & @Karanjakibicho & or @UgatuziKenya with the likes of @EugeneWamalwa overseeing disaster mgmt policy implementation ?
This are educated people with brains that are supposed to work & be paid by the taxpayers. Yet they cannot even the spearhead production a Flood Prep'dness, Prevention & Response Framework, if not policy, since we lack Disaster Mgmt legislature ?
Or even engage the likes of @Ahalake, a former deputy SG @KenyaRedCross now a Senator, who has enough experience to guide them come up with a National Asset Register, for example ? Which would create teams meeting typing standards, & enable National deployment when need be?
If the rains continue pounding, we will need a Flood Rescue Concept of Operations (FRCO), setting out the processes for managing & maintaining flood rescue capability & national coordination of flood rescue assets. Without the now almost defunct @NDOCKenya, how can we manage?
A Flood Rescue Concept of Operations is normally meant to provide the basis for planning assumptions regarding:
• Capabilities, field threats & their competent mgmt.
• Equipment types,, technological support & expertise.
• Deployment. especially to high risk areas etc.
At the moment, Nairobi is under siege from floods, meaning @NMS_Kenya after having been caught pants down is overwhelmed even without scales tipping. As such the National Govt, (in a working system) is expected to chip in to save the day. Hence the KDF- DRU involvement.
These kind of escalation & National Govt would end up need an Emergency Operations Centre. But, with @NDOCKenya on its death bed, if not dead already. How would we manage such a fete ?
@NDOCKenya Was set up to maintain plans for preventing emergencies and for reducing,controlling or mitigating the effects of emergencies in both the response & recovery phases.Which is where Nairobi currently is flood rummaging wise. Can't any of our genius see the existent gap?
Every year, despite the beneficial environmental impacts they create, floods impose substantial economic,social & environmental costs in Kenya thro:
• Direct damage to residential, educational,
& industrial buildings,
• Damage to infrastructure,
Why then doesn't govt care?
In terms of economic costs, flooding is Kenya’s most damaging natural hazard. In most years, a number of deaths occur as a consequence of flooding, there have been various cases of multiple deaths in single flood episodes. Why then does the Govt keep dilly dallying ?
Large numbers of people in Kenya live in flood-prone areas. Though, the number of commercial & industrial properties susceptible to flooding is not accurately known, it is in the tens of thousands, a situation capable of devastating the economy. But who cares ?
The value of the agricultural, industrial, commercial, residential & public assets that are at risk is very large as is the cost of repairing or replacing infrastructure damaged or destroyed by flooding. But, if our supposed leaders don't use their God given brains ?
@StateHouseKenya@KenyaGovernors
Dear Mr. President.
I believe if you never read George Orwell's allegorical novella the ''Animal Farm'' first published in 1945. You acquainted with''All animals being equal, with some animals,are more equal than others? standardmedia.co.ke/national/artic…
This allegorical novella has enough characters in it, that depict today's Kenya, your leadership, it's unfairness's & Utopia if you may. Two main characters Napoleon & his counter part Snowball, for instance depicts the handshake properly. But that is a story for another day.
What is of interest, is the adage from it, ''All animals being equal, & some being more equal than others''. An the case in point, that of Wanjiku lives & their importance to your Administration.
Do Wanjiku Lives Matter ?
Today's political science too often inculcates a dispassionate view of politics among scholars. Somewhere in the "literature reviews," mathematical models, "event counts," & language of "transaction costs" are buried issues and incidents that have real impacts on people's lives.
1980-to 2002, restrictions on speech & association in Kenya chilled discussion of policy & institutional development. Kenyans, civil servants included became noticeably less willing to take decisions, for fear of disapproval, & Govt business in some ministries slowed markedly.
Politics was not fit material for discussion in public places because of the proliferation of security agents in bars, matatus, public transport, clubs, & offices. Kenya had become a Gestapo country. Speaking anything that could be construed as Anti-Establishment was dangerous.
@AfricanUpdates That aviation is an important fully unexploited contributor to economic growth & development within Africa. Can open & connect markets, facilitating trade & enabling linkage into global supply chains. Is in no doubt, but our protectionist Govts & myopic thinking?
Whereas, enhancing air connectivity can help raise productivity, by encouraging investment & innovation; improving business operations & efficiency. The protectionism current is a bane, many continue to ignore.
Air transport is indispensable for tourism for example, where convenient air service facilitates the arrival of larger numbers of tourists to a region or country. But our stagnated thinking, poor leadership & acumen lack especially where changes can tilt the status quo ?
Facilitation. The efficient management of the necessary control process, with the objective of expediting the clearance of persons or goods & preventing unnecessary operational delays. Which can be handled by the existing NCASC, Is another Committee necessary?
It goes without saying that, ours is a circus. If at all you cared to validate the NCASP effectiveness(Annex 17 Standards 3.4.4 to 3.4.7), Thro a working NCASC, that is, would we need a component of its work replicated through a whole NATFC, essentially made of the same people?
The fire part is not just a wake up call, but a challenge to Kenya as regards NATIONAL PREPAREDNESS & Actions Needed to Address Gaps in the Nation’s Emergency Management Capabilities. But is any of you in the leadership positions at the least bit concerned ?
@NDOCKenya It's current operational status aside is supposed to have a National Prep'dness System to help assess the nation’s emergency management capabilities in preparing for disasters &, in part, to help prioritize sectoral cross cutting Disaster Mgmt leadership, but does it?
Without a National Prep'dness System outlining an organized process moving efforts forward, & leading to the achievement of would be safety goals ? That chance ended up making politically correct billionaires. @ajfactual52@alaminkimathi@mlimakenya@RasnaWarah@JerotichSeii
National Preparedness System
It normally outlines an organized process for everyone in the whole community or stakeholding, to move forward with their prep'dness activities & achieve the National Preparedness Goal. (If there is any set).
Six Parts of the National Preparedness System 1. Identifying & Assessing Risk
First, collect historical & recent data on existing, potential, perceived threats & hazards. The results of these risk assessments form the basis for the remaining steps.