NAIROBI, 14 Feb: With the prospect of a sixth consecutive failed rainy season in the east and Horn of Africa, Kenya\u2019s president is hoping the heavens will finally open with the help of a national day of mass prayer on Tuesday.
\nWilliam Ruto announced the plans for the country\u2019s first ever day of prayer on Sunday at a service in the drought-stricken city of Nakuru, some 100 miles (160 kilometers) from the capital Nairobi. It follows a joint call by the country\u2019s spiritual leaders to dedicate an entire day to prayer to ease drought conditions in the nation.
\nRuto\u2019s own ambitious economic revival strategy for the country is also dependent on a successful rainy season.
\n\u201cAs a government we have set out elaborate plans for food security, we have seeds, ample fertilizer, and water harvesting strategies including dams. We now need God to send us the rain,\u201d Ruto said. \u201cI urge all people from all faiths … to pray for our country.\u201d
\nKenya and other east African nations have been experiencing some of the worst drought conditions in decades, causing crop failure, loss of livestock, wildlife and biodiversity, and malnutrition. Domestic agriculture is a large part of Kenya\u2019s economy.
\nThe U.N. humanitarian agency has termed the ongoing drought in the region a \u201crapidly unfolding humanitarian catastrophe.\u201d
\nMeteorologists say human-caused climate change has been exacerbating the extreme conditions.
\n\u201cIt is time we started including climate change as factor in our development plans,\u201d Evans Mukolwe, former director of the Kenyan and U.N. weather agencies, told The Associated Press. \u201cThe current drought which we warned about some years ago has wider ramifications on the social economic conditions of the region including peace, security, and political stability.\u201d
\nMukolwe added that climate change has contributed to below average rainy seasons in the region for about three decades.
\nThe Intergovernmental Authority on Development\u2019s climate center said that since 2020, five rainy seasons have failed, affecting over 50 million people. The center will release its projections for the long rains season, typically from March to May, later in February. Early projections from other meteorological groups are not optimistic.
\nAround the world people from different faiths have often sought divine intervention for rain or other favorable weather. Last summer Milan\u2019s Archbishop made a pilgrimage to three churches in hopes of ending the country\u2019s dry spell and Utah\u2019s governor called for citizens to pray for rain ahead of a weekend of extreme heat.
\nSome Kenyans intend to heed the president\u2019s call.
\nNairobi business owner Millicent Nyambura said she supported the idea, \u201ceven though it will affect my colleagues in the flower business who expect to boost sales on Valentine\u2019s Day.\u201d (AP)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
NAIROBI, 14 Feb: With the prospect of a sixth consecutive failed rainy season in the east and Horn of Africa, Kenya\u2019s president is hoping the heavens will finally open with the help of a national day of mass prayer on Tuesday. William Ruto announced the plans for the country\u2019s first ever day of prayer on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-210989","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-world"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210989","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=210989"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210989\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=210989"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=210989"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=210989"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}