Friday, August 5, 2011

Kenyans for Kenya fund hits Sh500m

Together as one: From left Mrs Julie Gichuru, news anchor Citizen TV; Mr Jeff Koinange of K24; Mrs Gina Din Kariuki of Gina Din Corporate Communications; Mr Paul Melley of Standard Group; Mr Bob Collymore, CEO Safaricom; Mr Abbas Gullet, secretary general of the Red Cross Society and Mr Titus Naikuni, Kenya Airways CEO. Photo/WILLIAM OERI
Together as one: From left Mrs Julie Gichuru, news anchor Citizen TV; Mr Jeff Koinange of K24; Mrs Gina Din Kariuki of Gina Din Corporate Communications; Mr Paul Melley of Standard Group; Mr Bob Collymore, CEO Safaricom; Mr Abbas Gullet, secretary general of the Red Cross Society and Mr Titus Naikuni, Kenya Airways CEO. Photo/WILLIAM OERI 
By LILLIAN ONYANGO laonyango@ke.nationmedia.com
Posted  Friday, August 5  2011 at  22:00

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Companies on Friday raised over Sh300 million to help put a smile on the faces of millions of people in Northern Kenyan who are grappling with severe food shortages.
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The millions were raised by the corporate organisations that have come together under the Kenyans for Kenya initiative as the government again refuted reports of people dying from starvation.
In a ceremony at the Serena Hotel that brought together chief executives of some of the countries blue chip companies as well as midsize firms, a total of Sh301,368,880 was raised in cash and pledges while a further Sh53.4 million coming in kind.
The contribution brought the total raised through the initiative to Sh490,022,722, which is a radical departure from the past when Kenyans would be looking to international donors to offer help.
Last week, Safaricom and Kenya Commercial Bank in co-operation with the Media Owners Association (MOA) announced the initiative to raise Sh500 million to feed 3.5 million Kenyans facing starvation.
The fund has been open to all Kenyans with the minimum contribution pegged at Sh10, with service charges waived.
According to the Kenyans for Kenya website, contributions made by the public were at Sh135, 253,842, by 5pm Friday evening.
Among the CEO’s present were Kenya Airways’ Titus Naikuni, Equity Bank’s Dr James Mwangi, Nation Media Group’s Linus Gitahi, Safaricom’s Bob Collymore and Kenya Commercial Bank’s Martin Oduor-Otieno.
The companies represented included Oil Libya, Kenya Union of Savings & Credit Co-operatives Ltd, Kass Media Group, Sameer Group, BAT, The Manu Chandaria Foundation, G4S, Jetlink and EABL.
Company executives, business owners, local musicians and participants thronged the makeshift tent, most of them donning T-shirts branded “Kenyans for Kenya” which were on sale at the location and whose part proceeds go to the kitty.
From the speeches, it was evident that the business representatives had brought in a healthy competition spirit in an effort to outdo each other in the contributions.
Kenya Red Cross Society Secretary General Abbas Gullet commended the effort Kenyan had made to ensure people in need of food aid received it.
“We all have the responsibility one way or another to ensure these people in marginalised communities are taken care of,” he said.
The government has denied allegations that any Kenyan could have died because of the hunger in the drought stricken areas of Northern Kenya.
As he spoke, Internal Security assistant minister Orwa Ojode said government was yet to be updated of any deaths linked to hunger in the region. He said reports of deaths were probably due to diseases.
“We are yet to find any concrete information of the deaths but we have not found any, chiefs, District Commissioners and the entire provincial administration in the drought hit areas are yet to inform us of any deaths because of drought,” said Mr Ojode.
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“We have representatives on the ground from the village elders, assistant chiefs all through to the provincial commissioner, not even in a single communication have they mentioned hunger-related deaths,” he added.
According to United Nations, more than four million Kenyans are threatened by starvation in the region’s worst drought in 60 years.
In Nairobi, Mr Gullet added that Deloitte and Touche, an auditing firm, was on board to audit the accounts and ensure the money would be used appropriately.
Deloitte East Africa CEO Sammy Onyango went on to add that the firm would take it a notch further by ensuring that indeed the people in need of the aid would receive it.
NMG’s Linus Gitahi echoed Mr Gullet saying: “We should be in the business of providing hope to our fellow brothers and sisters.”
Also, Mr Gitahi urged Kenyans to continue supporting the initiative and making donations to the fund.
The warm giving atmosphere prompted Safaricom’s Bob Collymore to express his envy the spirit of togetherness that he said Kenyans had exemplified through the scheme.
“At this particular moment, I wish I was a Kenyan,” said Mr Collymore who was born In Guyana, South America, “Actually, I am proud to be Kenyan.”
Further, they urged the political class to shun the blame game and look into long term measures that would avert a repeat of the situation.
“They should forget their political theatrics... we cannot attend their rallies on empty stomachs anyway,” Standard Group’s Paul Melly said.
However, former Safaricom CEO Michael Joseph asked the government to reconsider its priorities saying failure to which, Kenyans will be forced to rally together for another fundraising for relief food.
Additional reporting by Jacob Ng’etich

1 comment:

  1. Whats up with Zap? Bharti Airtels MD Zena should wake up and support this initiative.

    ReplyDelete