The Democracy for the Citizens Party (DCP) has demanded to know the whereabouts of the National Disaster Response Committee, a body they claim has been sidelined in favour of a centralised, ineffective and individual authority.

Speaking on Thursday, May 28, 2026, while reading the party’s official statement, DCP Acting Secretary General and Nyandarua Senator Joe Methu demanded answers over the whereabouts of the 2023 National Disaster Response Committee.

This comes following the deadly fire tragedy at Utumishi Girls’ Academy that claimed the lives of 16 students.

“The question that we ask is, where is the National Disaster Response Committee, including all the key stakeholders, that was appointed in the year 2023?”

Moving functions to CS

According to Methu, the committee, which included all key stakeholders, was formally appointed in 2023 and placed under the Office of the Deputy President.

He challenged the President’s decision to move disaster response functions away from state departments and offices, placing them instead under the Cabinet Secretary for Interior as an individual.

“Why was this key function moved to the Cabinet Secretary for the interior as a person and not an office? What interests are there by the president in moving functions to an individual rather than state departments?” Methu added.

Weakening national disaster response

The opposition party further accused the Kenya Kwanza administration of weakening national disaster response structures by transferring critical emergency functions from institutions to individuals.

“The function of disaster response is treated as adaptable by this administration and moved to the incompetent Cabinet Secretary for Interior, Kipchumba Murkomen,” Methu added.

The DCP argued that if the government had invested the same energy in disaster management as it does in political mobilisation, lives could have been saved.

“Give the same effort and energy used to recruit, deploy and maintain political goons by Kipchumba Murkomen and William Ruto, and the Disaster Management Bill would have been applied, mitigation measures would have been implemented, and lives would have been saved,” he claimed.