President urges Kenyans to pray for rain to ease extreme drought

Young boys pull containers of water as they return to their huts from a well in the village of Ntabasi village amid a drought in Samburu East, Kenya (Brian Inganga/AP)

With the prospect of a sixth consecutive failed rainy season in the east and Horn of Africa, Kenya’s 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’s first ever day of prayer on Sunday at a service in the drought-stricken city of Nakuru, some 100 miles from the capital Nairobi.