Drought leaves trail of death in Turkana as residents struggle to stay alive

The prolonged drought has left thousands of Turkana residents in desperate need of food aid.

Samal Logiron, 84, a resident of Muruese village in Turkwel, Loima subcounty, is among residents ravaged by drought and starvation.

Logiron has gone for weeks without enough food. He looks weak and emaciated and cannot stand and walk out of his grass thatched house without the support of his two canes.

The Turkana administration says the drought situation is at an alarming stage in the county and has affected nearly 800,000 residents, with the Global Acute Malnutrition rate rising to 34.8 per cent.

Turkwel assistant chief Martin Lokoyen said famine has led to the death of people and thousands of livestock in Muruese village in Loima. He said at least six cases of death related to starvation have been reported in Muruese village.

Turkwel chief Titus Koloi said on Monday 11 people have died in the location due to starvation.

However, Turkana county executive for Disaster Management David Longiro denied the claims of 11 deaths, saying only two cases have been confirmed.

“We distributed food along that area of riverside in February, but we have contacted the village administrator to ascertain the cause of deaths. It has been confirmed that people have died but not 11 as alleged, only two cases,” he said.

Lokoyen said children, women and the elderly are the most affected.

“Recently, I was informed that people are dying of hunger. Hunger has ravaged the people of Muruese and as a result a woman has died and her husband is very weak,” he said.

He said they visited families in the area and they found many starving.

Lokoyen said the drought situation is devastating and if he fails to give the information to the world, government and humanitarian agencies no one will know and people will continue to die.

He said the reported cases of death have been caused by overdependence of residents on food aid from government and humanitarian agencies, unlike before when they used to grow their own food.

“Some years back, we were getting support from the Turkana government through the Ministry of Agriculture and non-governmental organisation to grow crops along the river but the farms have been invaded by mathenge (Prosopis juliflora) leaving residents to depend on food aid,” Lokoyen said.

He said they have eight irrigation schemes but all of them have been invaded by mathenge, making it hard for them to grow crops.

He urged the government and other stakeholders to help clear the invasive mathenge and open up the blocked canals so they can resume farm activities.

Lokoyen said the shrub is a nightmare for the community, and apart from taking over farmlands, it causes the death of livestock that eat its poisonous thorns.

He said residents have lost thousands of livestock and have now resorted to burning charcoal so they can sell to buy food for survival.

Elizabeth Ekai Meneyo, a resident of Muruese, said the current situation is saddening because livestock that support their livelihoods are dead.

She said children, women and elderly people are the hardest hit.

“There is no water in schools and hospitals, children cannot even get food in schools because there is no water to cook,” Meneyo said.

“When pregnant women go to hospital to deliver, health workers are afraid of attending to them because there is no water….last week a child died after a woman gave birth but there was nothing for her to eat to breastfeed the infant.” 

“Women are suffering, when they give birth, they die because there is nothing to eat, recently, two women and a man died in Muruese. More might die if they don’t get food aid soon…..where is the government and NGOs when people are eating wild fruits to survive?” she asked.

Peter Kariwa said elderly people have suffered because they no longer get help from cash transfer programmes. 

“Elderly people have been affected by drought and hunger, they have been forgotten. They don't even access the cash transfer to support their livelihoods,” he said.