The sudden death of 70-year-old Akodosiwa Naduma in Nakoko village, Tiaty subcounty, on February 3 epitomised the hunger plaguing more than 30,000 residents in Baringo county.
The old man, according to Silale Ward MCA Nelson Lotela, was healthy and strong before he emaciated and died.
He said elderly people in the area normally lived up to 90 before dying, but the ongoing drought has caused fear of more premature deaths.
Silale chief Peter Adomongura denied claims Naduma died of hunger, saying he might have drunk excess alcohol. But Lotela insists that many emaciated residents, including schoolchildren, risk succumbing to hunger-related illnesses if nothing is done urgently to supply them with foodstuff and clean water.
DONATION PROGRAMME
The Star met Chebokiseran Kukat, 65, on Saturday in Chesitet, Tiaty subcounty, during a food donation programme by professionals from West Pokot county led by Nairobi-based senior principal magistrate Linus Kossan.
That Kukat was starving was clear from her wrinkled face and scrawny figure. She and more than 10,000 residents facing hunger pangs were waiting to be served with relief food handouts.
“I am hungry. I feel like almost dying because I have not eaten anything since yesterday afternoon,” Kukat whispered to her fellow woman villager in Pokot dialect.
In the distance, young children and women were boiling bitter wild fruits locally known as Soruch. Others were sleeping on the bare ground, while another woman was eating dry chapati.
The food donors, who delivered some 300 bags of maize to cushion residents from hunger, fear the situation might worsen if the drought persists.
“If the rains fail in the next two months and no serious efforts are made to assist the victims, then the lives of the people might be on the line,” Kossan said.
The donors distributed the maize only to the hungry residents of Chesitet, Ameyan and Chesakam villages in Ripko, Loyamorok and Silale wards.
Kossan said the food was too little and could not feed the entire population of hungry Pokot residents in Koloa, Churo/Amaya, Ripko, Loyamorok, Tirioko, Tangulbei and Silale wards.
“We only supplied the foodstuffs to Ripko, Silale and Loyamoro, although more is needed to feed the equally hungry residents in the four other wards,” he said.
West Pokot Senator John Lonyangapuo, who accompanied the professionals, urged Kenyans to unite together to feed the hungry population.
LIVESTOCK DYING
The senator accused the government of failing to feed the growing list of starving citizens. He said on top of the hunger, pastoral communities are losing their livestock in large numbers.
Lonyangapuo urged Kenyans to join hands with donors and well-wishers to urgently supply food and other aid to victims of hunger and insecurity to save their lives.
He said elderly, expectant mothers and schoolchildren in arid and semi-arid areas are the most vulnerable.
The senator blamed the situation on the failure of rains in the country since July last year.
He said the livestock residents solely depend on for livelihood is dying in large numbers due to lack of water and pasture. “People might follow suit if no urgent measure is taken to save the situation,” Lonyangapuo said.
The senator urged the national and county governments to distribute clean water tanks to schools to help thirsty residents, noting that boreholes and pan dams are drying up.
Some 10,000 people, including schoolchildren, are starving in the lower parts of Baringo North subcounty, while another 12,000 are suffering from hunger in Baringo South subcounty.
The pastoral Tugen and Ilchamus communities in these subcounties have also lost more than 2,000 livestock due to the droughts.
The areas afffected are Bartabwa, Kukui, Kinyach, Marigut, Yatya, Chemoe, Kalabata, Kapturo, Kagir, Ngaratuko, Sibilo, Rondinin, Akoroyan, Moinonin and Sutiechun in Baringo North, and Arabal, Chebinyin, Kasheila, Kapndasum, Kiserian, salabani, Sandai and Loboi in Baringo South.
GOVERNMENT AID
County commissioner Perter Okwanyo said people in highland areas have also been affected. Addressing a chiefs’ meeting at the Kenya School of Government, he urged them to ensure equitable share of relief foodstuff to everyone, saying the national government has committed itself to donate 1000 bags of maize every month.
“Stop stealing animals from your neighbours. Instead, live together peacefully so you share the resources available for the remaining time until it rains, probably in April,” Okwanyo said.
Last week on Friday, Jubilee leaders including Devolution CS Mwangi Kiunjuri toured Chesakam and Yatya in Tiaty and Baringo North subcounties respectively.
They gave out 5,000 bags of maize, 2,500 of rice and 2,000 of eans, as well as uji mix bales and oil.
The leaders also gave out six water tanks to improve water supply in the affected arid and semi arid areas.
However, residents condemned the leaders for boarding helicopters to tour the area, saying they could not assess the worsening drought and hunger situation from there.
"It would be good for them if they could travel by land using vehicles, so that they see how people here are losing thousands of animals due to acute drought," Yatya resident Paul Chepsom said.
He called for the sinking of boreholes and water dams and open up irrigation schemes to stop the droughts once and for all.
"They came with two choppers and because they were preaching more politics, they could not manage to tour the entire county," Chepsom said.
However, Kiunjuri said the ride in helicopters was an emergency measure to save the lives of the suffering residents.
He said the government has enough money to repair the area’s 200 boreholes and complete Chemususu and Kirandich dams phase two and commence sinking of the proposed Amaya, Radat and Perekei dams to ensure constant supply of water.
Also present were Water CS Eugene Wamalwa and PS Fred Segor, Tiaty MP Asman Kamama, Baringo Governor Benjamin Cheboi and county commissioner Peter Okwanyo.
EAST AFRICAN IMPACT
Drought in the larger East Africa has sent prices of staples such as maize and sorghum soaring, the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation said on Tuesday, warning that a sharp increase in food prices could lead to renewed hunger in the region.
Prices of staple cereals have doubled in some markets, reaching record and near-record levels in swathes of Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, Uganda and Tanzania, FAO said.
"Sharply increasing prices are severely constraining food access for large numbers of households with alarming consequences in terms of food insecurity," Mario Zappacosta, FAO senior economist, said in a statement.
In South Sudan, food prices are between two and four times higher than a year ago, while in Kenya, prices of maize are up by about a third, FAO said.
In Somalia, maize and sorghum harvests are estimated to be 75 per cent lower than usual and more than half of the country's population, mostly in rural areas, is facing hunger, it said.
Trends in East Africa were in contrast with the stable trend of the organisation's global Food Price Index, which measures monthly price changes for a basket of cereals, oilseeds, dairy products, meat and sugar, FAO said.
It said crops in East Africa have been depleted by drought, which was exacerbated by the El Nino weather phenomenon that ended last year, and by poor and erratic rainfall in recent months.
About 12 million people in Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia are at risk of hunger due to recurring droughts, according to FAO figures.
Unusually high prices of staples pose an extra challenge for nomadic herders, as shortages of water and pastureland have had a harmful impact on animals, leading to lower livestock prices and leaving pastoralists with even less income, FAO said.
In Somalia, prices of goats are up to 60 per cent lower than a year ago, while in Kenya, they declined by up to 30 per cent in pastoralist areas, the FAO said.