Government to foot flood victims funeral costs in Garissa

Garissa County Commissioner, Chepchieng. (Courtesy)

GARISSA—The National government will pay for the funeral expenses of those who were killed by floods in Garissa County.

Joshua Chepchieng, the Garissa County Commissioner said the government will also extend assistance to all families cope with the loss of their loved ones.

At least five people were killed by the floods, three of those were from Lagdera constituency while the remaining two were from Garissa township and Dadaab sub county.

“That is what is contained in our records from various police stations and the Kenya Red Cross, which was involved in rescue and recovery missions,” Chepchieng’ said.

“We can’t talk of compensation for a person who died of natural calamity. It’s near impossible to compensate human life. But we are making background checks to help families of the victims to cope with the loss,” Chepchieng’ added

KenGen defended itself on Thursday against accusations of deliberately releasing water from the Seven Forks dams.

Speaking in Laza Tana River County, Corporate affairs manager Grace Chepkwony said the company was not to blame for the flooding in Garissa and Tana River counties as claimed.

“KenGen only alerted residents of an imminent rise in water levels when it became apparent that the dam could spill over due to heavy rains.” Chepkwony noted.

Farmers will be given free seeds and other inputs. The county steering committee and the disaster management team will advise on how to help other victims, Chepchieng’ said.

“We’ll do what is humanly possible to alleviate the suffering of flood victims,” he’ said.

At least 2,000 families have been displaced by floods after Kindaruma Dam overflowed last month.