Narok braces for better days after prolonged drought in 2023

Governor Joseph Lenku has expressed hope that the new year would bring better tidings for the residents after losing most of their livestock to drought in 2023.

More than 2.6 million livestock deaths were reported in the country in February 2023, as a result of the prolonged drought, according to the National Drought Management Authority.

NDMA chief executive officer Hared Hassan said the livestock sector suffers huge losses from recurrent droughts with the losses from deaths being estimated to be Sh226 billion.

“As we cross over the new year, it is my prayer that the country will stabilise financially so that the parents can take their children to school and universities,”  Lenku said during his New Year message on Sunday. 

The governor said the Maa people across four counties of Kajiado, Narok, Laikipia and Isiolo suffered a great deal during the last drought season.

“Moreover, low milk production has contributed to high malnutrition rates in Asal (arid and semi-arid lands) counties,” he said.

“Moving forward, my government will strongly back the distribution of bursaries to our students in secondary schools, tertiary colleges and universities because that is the only hope for my people.” 

Lenku said while there were challenges with finances in the region in the last two years, his has government sustained the issuance of scholarship money for students in the universities.

The governor used the occasion to announce the celebration of the first cohort of students, who have completed university, to be celebrated on on Tuesday, January 2.

“These are 500 university graduates who were awarded full scholarships when they joined universities in 2019.” 

Lenku also announced that another cohort of 500 students who have just joined universities will be unveiled on Friday this week.

The governor urged the county workers to implement all the development programmes in the pipeline.

“I cannot take up any excuses from the workers for non-delivery of services in the county and yet I have ensured no salary arrears are pending. No one is complaining that they have not been paid in good time,” he said.

He said Kajiado is strategically positioned to tap into benefits that emanate from an economy that is rapidly growing due to urbanisation. 

“Our strategic geographical location sandwiched between our capital city, Nairobi, and the East African Community headquarters Arusha in Tanzania, makes Kajiado a prime theatre for urban development,” the county chief said. 

“The spatial plan that I recently launched is testimony to our continued efforts to ensure optimal utilisation of our land. Our rural economies stand to gain greatly from markets and opportunities created by the rapidly growing urban centres.” 

As such, therefore, he said leveraging the county's urban centres has made it inevitable for his government to make them liveable and habitable. 

This, he said, will boosts investor confidence and make it easy for them to seek the capital to develop them. 

He said the county’s validation process is thorough and he is glad that financial institutions in Kajiado are accepting their “high-security allotment letters” as collateral for commercial loans.

The governor said his County Integrated Development Plan has an elaborate framework to improve infrastructure in the towns that include tarmacking of inter-estate roads.

“We will also do street lighting for 24-hour economy and security, footpaths and cycling lanes for pedestrian safety, as well as sewerage systems to improve sanitation,” he said.

Lenku said his government is looking forward to towns that have clean water for domestic use, free from solid and liquid wastes and adequate trading spaces that are conducive to business. 

He said the county has a robust partnership with the national government, the World Bank and other infrastructural financiers to hasten the county's urban projects.

The governor said sanitation and waste management are a consequence of multiple factors which include rapid urbanisation, and ineffective laws on waste management and disposal systems. 

“To address the above, I recently launched the county’s Mazingira unit which is an inter-departmental special force whose key mandate is to ensure our urban, peri-urban and other human settlements are habitable, safe, clean and sustainable,” he said.