133 households in Kanaodon, Katilu Ward, Turkana County have benefited from County county government’s restocking exercise that targeted drought-affected families.
Governor Jeremiah Lomorukai led the restocking exercise yesterday, where each affected household got five goats.
Governor Lomorukai said that pastoralists in Turkana had lost approximately 364,000 livestock during the drought season and the county government had kicked off interventions to rebuild livelihoods of households that had been affected.
“As the County Government, we have allocated resources to restore livelihoods for the affected households through the restocking programme. We are not only doing it here, but we will also be in Kalemng’orok and Kaputir,’ he said.
Governor Lomorukai acknowledged insecurity challenge, which is associated with livestock theft in Katilu and Lobei Kotaruk and warned leaders fueling the conflict for political mileage that their days are numbered.
“I want to ask all of you to live peacefully and avoid leaders that are fueling conflict in this belt. I want to assure you that the days for such leaders are numbered,” he cautioned.
The governor enumerated his administration’s track record and assured wananchi that he was steadfast and wouldn’t allow pilferage of county government resources, a factor that he said had led to disagreement with a section of leaders in Turkana.
He promised to repay the residents who had shown confidence in him during the election through development project implementation and outlined his focus on restoring the riverine as a food basket through farm infrastructure development.
Governor Lomorukai urged Members of the County Assembly (MCAs) to increase budgetary allocation for similar restocking programmes to ensure that affected households in future get more goats during restocking initiatives.
Area MCA Samal Etubon thanked the county government for the restocking initiative, noting that it will improve livestock productivity and called for arrest of those fueling conflicts in Turkana South.
Other speakers, led by Minority Leader Samuel Lomodo, lauded the restocking exercise and pledged to support Governor Lomorukai’s development agenda at the County Assembly.
Senior County Government officials who accompanied the Governor included Deputy County Secretary Joseph Nyang’a, County Executives Antony Apalia (Livestock) and Patrick Losike (Infrastructure), as well as Chief Officers Janerose Tioko (Agriculture) and Evans Lomodei (Fisheries).
By Peter Gitonga
