Turkana Governor Jeremiah Lomorukai hosted a delegation from the British High Commission in Kenya, led by Deputy Development Director, Richard Erlebach.
In a meeting at the County Headquarters, they discussed the drought situation in Turkana, and ongoing emergency relief efforts by the County Government and partners to cushion families affected.
The Governor appealed for support from partners in the relief efforts saying the majority of residents in the County are affected by the drought situation.
The Governor said the situation was exacerbated by bandit attacks along borders with West Pokot and Baringo, leading to communities losing their livelihoods due to cattle rustling.
He stated his development priority of food security as a long-term solution to building the resilience of communities to shocks such as drought and other calamities.
“The reliance on relief food is not sustainable. Our plan is to exploit water resources in the county, including River Turkwel and River Kerio to establish irrigation schemes using modern technology to produce food,” he said.
To boost water sustainability, Lomorukai revealed plans to identify partners to develop Lotikipi aquifer and other groundwater resources in Turkana to satisfy the water needs of residents. He added that the county had begun water trucking to supply communities with water, as 90 per cent of boreholes had already dried up.
The meeting also discussed collaboration to develop the education sector, including investing in additional infrastructure to accommodate children out of school.
The Governor promised to review and streamline the county school feeding programme to boost transition rates in the face of biting drought.
Senior County officials who attended the meeting included County Secretary Peter Eripete, County Executive for Education Sports and Social Protection Esther Lokwei, Directors Samuel Eregae (ECDE) and Stephen Eregae (Vocational Training).
By Peter Gitonga
