NAIROBI, Kenya — When Ademola Adesina founded a startup to provide solar and battery-based power subscription packages to individuals and businesses in Nigeria in 2015, it was a lot harder to raise money than it is today.

Climate tech was new in Africa, the continent was a fledgling destination for venture capital money, there were fewer funders to approach and less money was available, he said.

It took him a year of “running around and scouring” his networks to raise his first amount — just under $1 million — from VC firms and other sources. “Everything was a learning experience,” he said.

But the ecosystem has since changed, and Adesina’s Rensource Energy has raised about $30 million over the years, mostly from VC firms. 

Funding for climate tech startups in Africa from the private sector is growing, with businesses raising more than $3.4 billion since 2019. But there’s still a long way to go, with the continent requiring $277 billion annually to meet its climate goals for 2030.

Experts say to unlock financing and fill this gap, African countries need to address risks like currency instability that they say reduce investor appetite, while investors need to expand their scope of interest to more climate sectors like flood protection, disaster management and heat management, and to use diverse funding methods.

Still, the investment numbers for the climate tech sector — which includes businesses in renewable energy, carbon removal, land restoration and water and waste management — are compelling: Last year, climate tech startups on the continent raised $1.04 billion, a 9% increase from the previous year and triple what they raised in 2019, according to the funding database Africa: The Big Deal. That was despite a decline in the amount of money raised by all startups in total on the continent last year.

That matters because climate tech requires experimentation, and VC firms that provide money to nascent businesses are playing an essential role by giving climate tech startups risk capital, said Adesina. “In the climate space, a lot of things are uncertain,” he said.

The money raised by climate tech startups last year was more than a third of all funds raised by startups in Africa in 2023, placing climate tech second to fintech, a more mature sector.

Venture capital is typically given to businesses with substantial risk but great long-term growth potential. Startups use it to expand into new markets and to get products and services on the market.

Venture capitalists “can take risks that other people cannot take, because our business model is designed to have failures,” said Brian Odhiambo, a Lagos-based partner at Novastar Ventures, an Africa-focused investor. “Not everything has to succeed. But some will, and those that do will succeed in a massive way.”

That was the case for Adetayo Bamiduro, co-founder of MAX, formerly Metro Africa Xpress, which makes electric two- and three-wheelers and electric vehicle infrastructure in Nigeria and has raised just under $100 million since it was founded in 2015.

Adetayo said venture capitalists “are playing a catalytic role that is extremely essential.”

“We all know that in order to really decarbonize our economies, investments have to be made. And it’s not trivial investment,” he said.

The funds can also bridge the gap between traditional and non-traditional sectors, said Kidus Asfaw, co-founder and CEO of Kubik, a startup that turns difficult-to-recycle plastic waste into durable, low-carbon building material. His company, which operates in Kenya and Ethiopia, has raised around $5.2 million since it was launched in 2021.

He cites waste management and construction as examples of traditional sectors that can connect with startups like his.

“There’s so much innovation in these spaces that can transform them over time,” he said. “VCs are accelerating that pathway to transforming them.”

Besides venture capital, other investments by private equity firms, syndicates, venture builders, grant providers and other financial institutions are actively financing climate initiatives on the continent.

But private sector financing in general lags far behind that of public financing, which includes funds from governments, multilaterals and development finance institutions.

From 2019 to 2020, private sector financing represented only 14% of all of Africa’s climate finance, according to a report by the Climate Policy Initiative, much lower than in regions such as East Asia and Pacific at 39%, and Latin America and the Caribbean at 49%.

The low contribution in Africa is attributed to the investors putting money in areas they’re more familiar with, like renewable energy technology, with less funding coming in for more diverse initiatives, said Sandy Okoth, a capital market specialist for green finance at FSD Africa, one of the commissioners of the CPI study.

“The private sector feels this (renewable energy technology) is a more mature space,” he said. “They understand the funding models.”

Technology for adapting to climate change, on the other hand, is “more complex,” he said.

One startup working in renewable energy is the Johannesburg-based Wetility, which last year secured funding of $48 million — mostly from private equity — to expand its operations.

The startup provides solar panels for homes and businesses and a digital management system that allows users to remotely manage power usage, as it tries to solve the problems of energy access and reliability in southern Africa.

“Private sector financing in African climate is still rather low,” said founder and CEO Vincent Maposa. “But there’s visible growth. And I believe that over the next decade or so, you’ll start to see those shifts.”

Investors are also starting to understand the economic benefits of adapting to climate change and solutions as they have returns on investment, said Hetal Patel, Nairobi-based director of investments at Mercy Corps Ventures, an early-stage VC fund focused on startups building solutions for climate adaptation and financial resilience.

“We’re starting to build a very strong business case for adaptation investors and make sure that private capital flows start coming in,” he said.

Maelis Carraro, managing partner at Catalyst Fund, a Nairobi-based VC fund and accelerator that funds climate adaptation solutions, urged more diverse funding, such as that which blends private and public sector funding. The role of public financing, she said, should be to de-risk the private sector and attract more private sector capital into financing climate initiatives.

“We’re not gonna go far enough with just the public funding,” she said. “We need the private sector and the public sector to work together to unlock more financing. And in particular looking beyond just a few industries where the innovation is writ large.”
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MOLEPOLOLE, Botswana — At least 44 people who died in a horrific bus crash during Easter weekend in South Africa were laid to rest in neighboring Botswana on Saturday.

About 5,000 mourners clad in black gathered in the Botswana village of Molepolole to pay their last respects nearly a month after the bus crash that claimed the lives of everybody on board except one 8-year-old child.

The bus driver, Ogaufi Noonyane, was buried separately in the village of Thamaga, about 40 kilometers away.

The victims were travelling to an Easter pilgrimage of the Zion Christian Church, one of the biggest churches in southern Africa, when their bus plunged about 50 meters from a bridge near Mokopane village in South Africa’s northern province of Limpopo.

The accident was a tragic reminder of how deadly South Africa’s roads become during the Easter period, when millions crisscross the country during the long holiday weekend.

The mass funeral followed the repatriation of the victims’ remains to their home country of Botswana.

“We stand here with devastated hearts,” said Limpopo provincial minister of health Phophi Ramathuba, who was among the South African dignitaries who attended the funeral.

Atlang Siako, the sole survivor, was transported back home to Botswana after receiving medical attention in South Africa.

Last month, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa and his Botswana counterpart Mokgweetsi Masisi visited the scene of the crash, where they laid wreaths and paid their respects to the deceased. 
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GENEVA — The World Meteorological Organization warns that Tropical Cyclone Hidaya, which is projected to make landfall in Tanzania and Kenya this weekend, threatens to worsen the humanitarian crisis triggered by torrential rains in these and other heavily flooded countries in East Africa.

“Hidaya is the first documented system to have reached tropical cyclone status in this part of the world. We are not talking about Sudan. We are talking about lower and East Africa,” WMO spokesperson Clare Nullis told journalists in Geneva on Friday.

“It is historically significant. It is also going to have a very big impact, and specifically on Tanzania, where the ground is already absolutely soddened. Tanzania, which has suffered flooding, is about to get hit with more heavy rains falling … from this system.

“And the moisture in this tropical cyclone will also impact Kenya, where there is also very, very bad flooding,” she said, noting that “climate change was supercharging extreme weather.”

El Nino, which sparked heavy rains and severe flooding sweeping East Africa, is waning. Despite this, the WMO says this weather event still carries a big punch and is leading to more heavy rainfall, devastating floods and landslides in the East African region.

While casualty figures continue to rise, the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reports this disaster so far has killed more than 400 people. This includes at least 210 in Kenya, more than 150 in Tanzania and others in Burundi, Rwanda and Somalia.

OCHA reports heavy rains and floods in these five countries have affected more than 637,000 people, including 234,000 who are displaced. It says governments and humanitarian agencies are still assessing the damage and destruction of infrastructure, which is extensive.

“In terms of economic losses, it is still too early to say. When you look at the images of bridges and roads being swept away, it is going to be immense,” said Nullis. “The loss of livestock, the disruption of agriculture. It is a huge, huge investment.”

In an address to his nation Friday, Kenyan President William Ruto outlined a series of measures to deal with this emergency, noting that no corner of the country “has been spared from this havoc.”

“Sadly, we have not seen the last of this perilous period, as this situation is expected to escalate,” he said. “Meteorological reports paint a dire picture. The rains will persist, increasing both in duration and intensity for the rest of this month and possibly after.”

While all those caught in this disastrous event are suffering immense hardships, the U.N. refugee agency expresses particular concern about the welfare of thousands of refugees and other displaced people “being forced to escape once again for their lives after their homes were washed away.”

“In Kenya, nearly 20,000 people in the Dadaab refugee camps, which host over 380,000 refugees, have been displaced due to the rising water levels,” said Olga Sarrado Mur, UNHCR spokesperson.

“Many of them are among those who arrived in the past couple of years after severe drought in neighboring Somalia. Some 4,000 people are currently sheltering in six schools with facilities that have been extensively damaged,” she said.

She noted that many of the tens of thousands of refugees in Tanzania, Burundi, and other hard-hit countries in the region have had to relocate multiple times as water levels continue to rise. She said many people are struggling to find shelter, to pay the rent, to earn enough money to feed themselves and their families.

“Climate change is making many parts of the world, especially in fragile regions like East Africa and the Horn of Africa, increasingly uninhabitable,” said Sarrado Mur.

“Storms are more devastating. Wildfires have become commonplace. Floods and droughts are intensifying. Some of these impacts are irreversible and threaten to continue worsening, and displaced people are bearing the brunt of the impact,” she said.

The WMO reports early warning systems are critical in saving lives before natural disasters strike. It says these systems are more crucial than ever to protect people from the extreme weather conditions stemming from human-induced climate change.

“So, on tropical cyclones, we do have very, very good warnings these days in most parts of the world that enable evacuations to take place,” said Nullis, underscoring that early warning systems enable “what we call anticipatory action, which is sort of prepositioning by humanitarian agencies of relief supplies.”

“Thanks to such actions, we have prevented a great loss of life in many regions of the world,” she said.

However, UNHCRs Sarrado Mur observed that “many of the preparations resulting from early warnings often do not reach the most vulnerable communities, including refugees or other displaced communities, which often are in areas that are more exposed to these climate hazards.”

She emphasized the importance of providing funding to vulnerable peoples and the communities hosting them, “so they can be equipped and be prepared, and so they can adapt to this new situation which is unfortunately the new reality.”
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NAIROBI, KENYA — Torrential rains that caused widespread flooding and landslides across Kenya in recent weeks, killing at least 210 people, are forecast to worsen over the rest of this month, President William Ruto said Friday.

The floods have wreaked havoc, destroying homes, roads, bridges and other infrastructure across Kenya, East Africa’s largest economy. The death toll exceeds that from floods triggered by the El Nino weather phenomenon late last year.

“Sadly, we have not seen the last of this perilous period, as the situation is expected to escalate. Meteorological reports paint a dire picture,” Ruto said on Kenyan television. “Kenya may face its first-ever cyclone.”

Cyclone Hidaya is expected to make landfall in Tanzania, Kenya’s southern neighbor, on Saturday, bringing with it waves almost eight meters high and 165-kph winds, the IGAD Climate Prediction and Applications Centre said.

Floods have killed more than 160 people in Tanzania since the beginning of April, Tanzania’s government spokesperson Mobhare Matinyi said.

“This cyclone, named Hidaya, that could hit anytime now, is predicted to cause torrential rain, strong winds and powerful and dangerous waves,” Ruto said.

Earlier this week, Ruto ordered those living in landslide-prone areas to leave for safer ground.

The government has asked people living near 178 dams and water reservoirs, now close to overflowing, as well as those in informal settlements close to rivers and streams, to evacuate.

Ruto said the reopening of all schools for the upcoming term, which was meant to start this week, would be postponed until further notice.

The Nairobi government has set up 115 camps to host people displaced by the flooding, and is working closely with donors and humanitarian organizations to provide food and non-food supplies to those affected, he said.

Opposition leaders and rights groups have criticized Ruto’s administration for its response to the disaster.

On Thursday, Human Rights Watch accused authorities of failing to put in place a timely national response plan, despite warnings from the Kenya Meteorological Department a year ago about the likely impact of flooding caused by El Nino. 
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The latest global press freedom rankings from media watchdog Reporters Without Borders present a discouraging picture, including a lack of political will to defend a free press. Afghanistan, Argentina and the U.S. are among countries whose rank fell. For VOA, Cristina Caicedo Smit has the story.
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Abuja, Nigeria — Nigerian authorities said Thursday they have arrested the mastermind of a 2022 terrorist attack on a moving train that killed 10 passengers.

Police arrested Ibrahim Abdulahi, who is also known as “Mande,” during a raid in January at the Abuja-Kaduna road flyover near Rido junction, Police Force public relations officer Olumuyiwa Adejobi told journalists.

“The suspect confessed to being the leader of the kidnap syndicate terrorizing Abuja-Kaduna highway,” Adejobi said.

Police had received a tip-off about Abdulahi’s whereabouts, Adejobi said, adding that Mande admitted to participating in several deadly attacks on citizens, including the kidnapping of 20 Greenfield University students in Kaduna in 2021 and the 2022 attack on the train.

On March 28 of that year, armed terrorists bombed the passenger train traveling from Abuja to Kaduna and opened fire on passengers. Ten people were killed, and the attackers abducted at least 61 passengers. The abductees were freed many months later.

The attack sparked fear and widespread criticism of the government. Authorities shut down the train service for nine months and, when they reopened it, provided improved security and escorts on each trip.

Security analyst Senator Iroegbu praised the arrest but said authorities must be more proactive.

“What actually Nigerians want is to be sure that never [happens] again,” Iroegbu said “They [shouldn’t] wait till people get kidnapped before they start taking actions, whether militarily or through ransom payments. Nigerians want the kidnappings to end.”

Insecurity is one of the major problems standing in the way of prosperity in Africa’s most-populous country.

In the past year, gangs have kidnapped more than 4,700 people, according to security consulting firm SBM Intelligence.

Last month, Nigeria’s president said the country would no longer pay ransom to armed gangs to free hostages and pledged that gangs will face the full force of security agencies. Many victims and relatives of those in captivity are hoping the decision does not ruin their chances of rescuing their loved ones.
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Nairobi, Kenya — The death toll from flood-related incidents in Kenya has crossed 200 since March, the interior ministry said Friday, as a cyclone barreled towards the Tanzanian coast.  

Torrential rains have lashed East Africa, triggering flooding and landslides that have destroyed crops, swallowed homes, and displaced hundreds of thousands of people.   

Some 210 people have died in Kenya “due to severe weather conditions,” the interior ministry said in a statement, with 22 killed in the past 24 hours.   

More than 165,000 people had been uprooted from their home, it added, with 90 others missing, raising fears that the toll could rise further.   

Kenya and neighboring Tanzania, where at least 155 people have been killed in flooding, are bracing for cyclone Hidaya, bringing heavy rain, wind and waves to their coasts.   

Tanzanian authorities warned Friday that Hidaya had “strengthened to reach the status of a full-fledged cyclone,” at 3:00 am local time (0000GMT) when it was some 400 kilometers from the southeastern city of Mtwara.    

“Cyclone Hidaya has continued to strengthen further, with wind speeds increasing to about 130 kilometers per hour,” they said in a weather bulletin.  

Kenya’s interior ministry forecast that the cyclone was likely to “bring strong winds and large ocean waves, with heavy rainfall” expected to hit the coast starting Sunday. 

Race against the clock   

Rescuers in boats and aircrafts have raced against the clock in pouring rain to help people marooned by the floods in Kenya.   

In dramatic footage shared on Monday, the Kenya Red Cross rescued a man who said he was stranded by floodwaters and forced to shelter in a tree for five days in Garissa in the country’s east.  

The country’s military also joined search and rescue efforts after President William Ruto deployed them to evacuate everyone living in flood-prone areas.   

Opposition politicians and lobby groups have accused Ruto’s government of being unprepared and slow to respond to the crisis despite weather warnings.  

In the deadliest single incident in Kenya, dozens of villagers were killed when a makeshift dam burst on Monday near Mai Mahiu in the Rift Valley, about 60 kilometers north of Nairobi.  

The interior ministry said 52 bodies had been recovered and 49 people were still missing after that disaster.  

The ministry ordered that anyone living close to major rivers or near 178 “filled up or near filled up dams or water reservoirs” must vacate the area within 24 hours.  

The heavier than usual rains have also claimed at least 29 lives in Burundi, with 175 people injured, and tens of thousands displaced since September last year, the United Nations said.  

The rains have been amplified by the El Nino weather pattern — a naturally occurring climate phenomenon typically associated with increased heat worldwide, leading to drought in some parts of the world and heavy downpours elsewhere.  

Late last year, more than 300 people died in rains and floods in Kenya, Somalia and Ethiopia, just as the region was trying to recover from its worst drought in four decades.  

Cyclone season in the southwest of the Indian Ocean normally lasts from November to April and sees around a dozen storms each year. 

 
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Chad’s election on May 6 is almost certain to result in victory for transitional president and military leader Mahamat Idriss Déby, according to analysts. In the run-up to the vote, authorities have cracked down on the media and opposition leaders have been kept off the ballot. Despite that, experts say Chad will remain an important ally for Western security efforts in the Sahel region. Henry Wilkins reports.
Camera: Henry Wilkins
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Nairobi — The number of people who have lost their lives in devastating floods in Kenya since March has risen to 188, with dozens still missing, the interior ministry said on Thursday.

Torrential rains in Kenya and other countries in East Africa have caused deadly havoc, with floods and landslides forcing people from their homes, destroying roads, bridges and other infrastructure.

“As a result, the country has regrettably recorded 188 fatalities due to severe weather conditions,” the ministry said in a statement.

It added that 125 people had been reported injured and 90 people were currently missing, while 165,000 have been displaced.

On Wednesday, nearly 100 tourists were among people marooned after a river overflowed in Kenya’s famed Maasai Mara wildlife reserve following a heavy downpour.

The ministry said rescuers had successfully evacuated 90 people by ground and air in the Masai Mara, where lodges and safari camps were flooded after the River Talek overflowed.

The ministry said rescuers had successfully evacuated 90 people by ground and air in the Masai Mara, where lodges and safari camps were flooded after the River Talek overflowed.

The area is currently inaccessible with bridges washed away, Narok West sub-county administrator Stephen Nakola told AFP, adding that about 50 camps in the reserve have been affected, putting more than 500 locals temporarily out of work.

There are no fatalities but communities living around the area have been forced to move away.

“Accessing the Mara is now a nightmare and the people stuck there are really worried, they don’t have an exit route,” Nakola said, adding that waterborne diseases were likely to emerge.

“I am worried that the situation could get worse because the rains are still on.”

In the deadliest single incident in Kenya, dozens of villagers were killed when a dam burst on Monday near Mai Mahiu in the Rift Valley, about 60 kilometers (40 miles) north of the capital, Nairobi.

The interior ministry said 52 bodies had been recovered and 51 people were still missing after the dam disaster.

Kenyan President William Ruto on Tuesday announced he was deploying the military to evacuate everyone living in flood-prone areas.

Opposition politicians and lobby groups have accused Ruto’s government of being unprepared and slow to respond to the crisis despite weather warnings, demanding that it declare the floods a national disaster.

“Kenya’s government has a human rights obligation to prevent foreseeable harm from climate change and extreme weather events and to protect people when a disaster strikes,” Human Rights Watch said Thursday.

The HRW statement said events such as flooding are “particularly threatening for marginalized and at-risk populations, including older people, people with disabilities, people in poverty, and rural populations”.

The United States and Britain have issued travel warnings for Kenya, urging their nationals to be cautious amid the extreme weather.

The downpours have also left a trail of destruction across other East African countries, including neighboring Tanzania, where at least 155 people have been killed in flooding and landslides.

The heavy seasonal rains have been amplified by the El Nino weather pattern — a naturally occurring climate phenomenon typically associated with increased heat worldwide, leading to drought in some parts of the world and heavy rains elsewhere.

The disaster in Kenya and other nations has sparked an outpouring of condolences and pledges of solidarity with the affected families from all over the world.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is “deeply distressed” to hear of the loss of lives from heavy flooding in Burundi, Kenya, Somalia and Tanzania and other parts of East Africa, his spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.

“The [U.N.] secretary-general is extremely concerned about the impacts of El Nino-triggered extreme weather, which risk further devastating communities and undermining their livelihoods.”
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Kigali — Hate speech fueled Rwanda’s tragic 1994 genocide against the Tutsis, resulting in the loss of around 800,000 people. Today, a new generation – including some very determined Generation Z members in Rwanda – is leading the charge to stop hate speech from spreading again and working towards a future of unity and understanding.

In a quiet dark room, Clara, a young Rwandan, tearfully confronts her mother. Born long after a genocide forced her family to flee, she seeks the truth about her roots.

Clara is a fictional character in a stage play presented by the Rwandan youth organization Peace and Love Proclaimers, or PLP.

She represents a majority of Rwandan Gen Z’s, said the group’s head, Israel Nuru Mupenzi.

Over 100 days in 1994, Hutu extremists massacred some 800,000 minority Tutsis and moderate Hutus in what is known today as the Rwandan Genocide against Tutsis.

Thirty years on, a new generation feels lost in a broken society, said Mupenzi.

“We were not there, but we are now facing the aftermath. We are seeing our parents and our neighbors closing doors to each other because of lack of trust. Some couples are breaking up because of that. They say, ‘My parents said they can’t, he can’t allow me to be married to that family,” said Mupenzi.

Parents haunted by the past are reluctant to share why.

“They kinda try to hide it. ‘Dad, you don’t want to talk about this? But you know you have to tell me about this so I can know what to do,” said Mupenzi.

So, they go to the internet and social media for answers. But social media influencer Noella Shyaka said the space is very unhealthy. She explained that perpetrators of the 1994 crimes fled the country and continue to use social media to spread hate.

Their goal, she said, is to radicalize the youth against each other. 

“So, we get attacked. Certain groups, they target you, they always come in your comments, they call you names, ‘Slut’ ‘Tutsis’, yeah, we are not comfortable,” said Shyaka.

Many youths are angry, according to Rwandan artist and PLP creative director Colin Kazungu. He said some youth react to these hate speeches by writing songs and poems about violence and revenge.

To help, he is using entertainment, arts, and sports to dispel the hate and also create a safe space for genocide conversation.

“Art has a way to your heart even when a speech or a president’s speech cannot go straight to your heart. But I can talk to your heart with music even before a government official gets a platform to talk to you. Because many people follow music than they follow political things,” he said.

Kazunga said the toxicity around genocide conversations drives most youths away from the topic, but through art, entertainment and other fun events, PLP has seen them re-engage.

“People are now starting to understand that we need to take part in this journey, in this journey to fight genocide ideology, in this journey to say never again, to make never again a reality,” he said.   

The Peace and Love Proclaimers together with youth artists in Rwanda continue to raise awareness through community and school engagements. They have about 60 partner schools where they organize entertainment and education events, including peace walks all year round.
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Mai Mahiu, Kenya — Kenyan President William Ruto on Tuesday deployed the military to evacuate everyone living in flood-prone areas in a nation where 171 people have been killed since March by torrential rains. 

Seasonal rains, amplified by the El Nino weather pattern, have devastated the East African nation, with floodwaters engulfing villages and threatening to unleash even more damage in the weeks to come. 

In the worst incident, which killed nearly 50 villagers, a makeshift dam burst in the Rift Valley before dawn Monday, sending a torrent of water and mud gushing down a hill and swallowing everything in its path. 

The tragedy in Kamuchiri village, Nakuru county, was the deadliest episode in the country since the start of the March-May rainy season. 

Ruto, who visited the victims of the Kamuchiri deluge after chairing a Cabinet meeting in Nairobi, said his government had drawn up a map of neighborhoods at risk of flooding. 

“The military has been mobilized, the national youth service has been mobilized, all security agencies have been mobilized to assist citizens in such areas to evacuate to avoid any dangers of loss of lives,” he said. 

People living in the affected areas will have 48 hours to move, he said. 

“The forecast is that rain is going to continue, and the likelihood of flooding and people losing lives is real. Therefore, we must take preemptive action,” Ruto said. 

“It is not a time for guesswork, we are better off safe than sorry.” 

The Kamuchiri disaster — which killed at least 48 people dead — cut off a road, uprooted trees and destroyed homes and vehicles. Some 26 people were hospitalized, Ruto said, with fears the death toll could rise as search and rescue operations continued. 

The Cabinet warned that two dams — Masinga and Kiambere — both less than 200 kilometers (125 miles) northeast of the capital, had “reached historic highs,” portending disaster for those downstream.  

“While the government encourages voluntary evacuation, all those who remain within the areas affected by the directive will be relocated forcibly in the interest of their safety,” a statement said. 

Monday’s tragedy came six years after a dam accident at Solai, also in Nakuru county, killed 48 people, sending millions of liters of muddy water raging through homes and destroying power lines. 

The May 2018 disaster involving a private reservoir on a coffee estate also followed weeks of torrential rains that sparked deadly floods and mudslides. 

Opposition politicians and lobby groups have accused Ruto’s government of being unprepared and slow to respond to the crisis despite weather warnings, demanding that it declare the floods a national disaster. 

Kenya’s main opposition leader, Raila Odinga, said Tuesday the authorities had failed to make “advance contingency plans” for the extreme weather. 

“The government has been talking big on climate change, yet when the menace comes in full force, we have been caught unprepared,” he said. “We have therefore been reduced to planning, searching and rescuing at the same time.” 

Environment Minister Soipan Tuya told a press briefing in Nairobi that the government was stepping up efforts to be better prepared for such events. 

“We continue to focus on the need to invest in early warning systems that prepare our population — days, weeks and months ahead of extreme weather events, such as the heavy rainfall we’re experiencing.”  

The international community, including the United Nations and African Union Commission chief Moussa Faki Mahamat, have sent condolences and pledged solidarity with the affected families. 

The weather has also left a trail of destruction in neighboring Tanzania, where at least 155 people have been killed in flooding and landslides. 

Late last year, more than 300 people died in rains and floods in Kenya, Somalia and Ethiopia, just as the region was trying to recover from its worst drought in four decades. 

El Nino is a naturally occurring climate pattern typically associated with increased heat worldwide, leading to drought in some parts of the world and heavy rains elsewhere. 
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