By MARTIN MUTUA
Jubilee Alliance presidential running mate William Ruto has told members of the pastoralist community that an insurance policy will be developed to cover their livestock should the party take over government next year.
He told crowds in Mandera town and Tabaka township that Jubilee alliance will ensure livestock in drought prone areas are covered by insurance to cushion farmers from loses.
“We had planned to put the insurance cover in place after the 2007 elections but the confusion in ODM could not allow us to effect it,” said Ruto.
He said the party was confident of winning the election in March and the marshall plan it has for marginal areas like North Eastern will be a matter of priority.
He said among the animals to be covered by the insurance policy will be goats, camels and cattle which form the economic backbone of the area.
He said they would also make agriculture a priority through well-funded irrigation programmes that will make marginal areas food self-sufficient.
Ruto who was accompanied by assistant minister Mahmoud Mohammed, Moyale MP Mohammed Ali and Dujis counterpart Aden Dualle and local leader Capt Ali Rioba said another priority in the area would be the development of road infrastructure.
“The Government we intend to put in place will focus on infrastructure in the region so that famers can sell their livestock to other parts of the country and also export meat products”.
To empower people in the region, Ruto said abbattoirs and meat storage facilities would be put in Mandera, Garrissa, Wajir, Habaswein, Marsabit, Moyale, Lodwar and other urban centres in the region.
The former Minister for Agriculture said irrigation would ensure the country gets enough food instead of continued dependence on rain fed agriculture.
Dualle and Rioba said the area had lagged behind in development because the country’s leadership and the grand coalition that took power after 2007 had neglected the region.
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