A drive to Loiyangalani, Marsabit county, paints a picture of a forgotten people.
Driving for long hours (at least six) on an extremely difficult terrain with no sight of schools, hospitals/ dispensaries, permanent structures and other basic public amenities slaps you with the harsh realities of what decades of marginalization can do to a people.
Harsh terrain is an understatement given in some sections, roads are non-existent, some cut off by recent floods, where in others, waters from other areas have made them impassable. But still, the drives offer beautiful views in the northern part of Kenya.
This was a visit to communities of Loiyangalani by a group of NGOs that support them, seeking to see and hear first-hand the challenges they face and the solutions that can be sought. The organizations were Mt Kenya Network/deCOAL, Namati, Hivos, Samburu Women Trust, the Green Belt Movement, Defenders Coalition, Indigenous Women Council, DiploBrief and the American Jewish World Service-Kenya. The organizations were hosted by Wong’an Women Initiative.
Loiyangalani, the small town on the south-eastern coast of Lake Turkana means “a place of many trees” in the native Samburu tongue. Among the people found here are the Samburu, the Rendille, the Turkana and the El-Molo, who are among the indigenous and marginalized communities in Kenya.
It is popularly known for the Marsabit Lake Turkana Cultural Festival.
MARGINALIZATION
The history of marginalization of northern Kenya dates back to the colonial period, with development largely being concentrated along the railway and the fertile white highlands, while the vast northern and north-eastern with harsh climatic conditions were largely left out. This continued in independent Kenya,
Abdirashid M. Jabane in his chapter Rural Development and Marginalisation: The Drylands of Northern Kenya, notes that the state has had a role in this disfranchisement, invariably blaming the underdevelopment of northern Kenya on the scarcity of resources, aridity, remoteness, local resistance and insecurity.
Jabane notes that these are important factors in explaining and propagating state policies visà-vis the underdevelopment of northern Kenya or its disparities with other regions in Kenya.
Such attitudes by the government can be traced to the 1965 Sessional Paper No. 10 which shunned the Northern Kenya as the unproductive arid and semi-arid regions into economic oblivion, instead channelling development, resources and investment towards the high potential regions. This was in a mis-informed attempt to create political equality, equal opportunities and social justice.
With the centralized government until 2010, most of the northern region remained unexploited and undeveloped. It was not until 2008 that the A2 Isiolo-Moyale Road was designed under President Mwai Kibaki and completed in 2017, opening up the northern frontier.
With the onset of devolution, a lot was expected but residents are yet to enjoy the fruits of the devolved system due to limited allocated resources in a region that had been forgotten for decades, vast areas, poor leadership and corruption in the county governments.
As a result, huge gaps remain in bridging development in the region, which has been exacerbated by climate change given it is an already vulnerable area due to its arid and semi-arid status.
And even when the government moves in to develop and explore the region, the people don’t feel part of the initiatives, or their concerns being factored in the projects.
“How fair can it be that these people are taking power from us and I don’t have that power? Instead, I have to do with a lamp”.
Resident
LAKE TURKANA WIND POWER
Take for example the controversial Sh80 billion Lake Turkana Wind Power Project, the largest of such a energy project in Africa. While it draws huge support from the Kenyan government, and through which current and past administration often invoke in green energy efforts, While this project enjoys strong support from the Kenyan government, the project is unpopular at the local level, with accusations of communal land-grabbing, infringement of indigenous and customary land rights as well as corporate negligence.
While the company prides itself in providing “reliable and low-cost energy” to Kenya’s national grid – approximately 17% of the country’s installed capacity, to be bought at a fixed price by Kenya Power over a 20-year period in accordance with the Power Purchase Agreement – locals are unhappy as they don’t have access to electricity. They argue that while the wind power has contributed to certain benefits, it has brought about other problems that affect the community negatively, leaving them feeling exploited.
During one of the meetings with the local communities, one of a local woman asked, “How fair can it be that these people are taking power from us and I don’t have that power? Instead, I have to do with a lamp”.
These are remarks shared by many who were at the meeting.
They thought their cry had been heard by President William Ruto, when in November 023 during the he Marsabit Lake Turkana Cultural Festival promised to have them have access to power from LWP Project by this year.
“Here, we have a lot of wind that we use to generate power. You hhave said, and it is true, that this power leaves this place and helps us in Nairobi and other parts of Kenya but the people of Loiyangalani are still in darkness.
“I want to assure you that already we have a plan in place to have the power generated from the wind power supplied to this town. I want to ensure that by the time I come back here next year, you will have electricity from the wind power,” the President promised.
He added that mini grids would be built in Marsabit, Moyale and North Horr to ensure they have access to power.
Almost an year later, this pledge is yet to be fulfilled, even as plans get underway for the 2024 Lake Turkana Cultural Festival.
Land resource management and ownership remains a challenge, with the community pushing to own their community land and have it registered, a contentious issue that ended up in court.
On May 25, 2023, the local community won a case at the High Court against an attempt by LTWP to have a review of the November 2021 ruling to extend time to regularize the acquisition of the 150 acres on which the project sits. The court had nullified the title deeds.
The three-judge bench of the Environmental and Land Court constituting justices Peter Muchoki, Yuvinalis Angima and Grace Kemei noted that the government hadn’t demonstrated willingness to convert the land as required by law and thus the request for the extension “wouldn’t serve any purpose”.
The community leaders opine that the delay was deliberate so that they are not compensated for the land.
They had moved to court in 2014 to block the acquisition, arguing that it is their ancestral, cultural and grazing land held “under an intergenerational trust for future generations”, and a key factor for their survival and livelihood.
They complain that failure to register the land also means they cannot access money paid to the county government, even as they made it clear that they are not anti-development but demanding an equal share and right of the benefits.
CLIMATE CHANGE
Being a vulnerable area due to harsh climatic conditions, Loiyangalani is dealing with various climate-problems, including loss and damage.
Fr Mark Gitonga of Loiyangalani Catholic Parish narrates of how in his more than a decade mission, he has witnessed the death of cattle, a dear livelihood, in the area.
“The last drought was the worst and it is really saddening seeing these people watching and mourning as their cattle die and there is nothing you can do for them. I have a case of an old man who had 100 camels and about 1,000 goats and they all perished. A wealthy man turned into a beggar,” Fr Gitonga narrated.
The implication is the old man cannot now afford to educate her bright daughter, who Fr Gitonga believes is smart enough to be a doctor in future. Dreams shattered.
Then there are problems brought about by the rising waters of Lake Turkana.
Delineation of the water area of the lake in 2020 showed Lake Turkana increased in area by 779.59 km², flooding all the low-lying coastal areas and the grasses therein. The increase in area of the lake is about 10.4%, which has had a negative impact on the ecology and the biodiversity.
These water levels have since rose higher, and have not only swallowed the murram road but also submerged, homes, a school, a fish freezer and the local catholic church. Graves and sacred sites, too, were not left out.
El Molo Primary School toilets and kitchen have totally been submerged, with the boarding facility for girls becoming inhabitable. A modern kitchen has been built through LTWP, and the toilets moved but are inadequate.
A section of the people of the minority El-Molo at Komote village on the El Molo Bay have since been marooned into an island, consequently separated from the rest of the community and left to live in extremely difficult circumstances, with non-existent social amenities. Children have to navigate crocodile infested waters to and from school every day using a boat but without life jackets. They are also forced to use and drink the alkaline water, which has visible effects on their hair, teeth and bones. These are not the only health effects as the residents complain of respiratory tract infections.
The situation is worsened by the inadequate of health services in the area and increased poverty levels as livelihoods have been destroyed.
With only two boats on site, one operating as a “schools bus”, transport challenges mean the sick and women in labour can’t access the dispensary easily and on time, explains ….
For parents, they have to contribute for the boat fuel, a cost they didn’t bear years back.
According to a 2021 UNDP-government of Kenya report Rising Water Levels in Kenya’s Rift Valley Lakes, Turkwel Gorge Dam and Lake Victoria, the phenomenon was attributed to “hydro-meteorological variables due to climate change” which have resulted in increased moisture availability as demonstrated by the rainfall data and discharge of the rivers feeding the lakes.
“There is also increased soil in run off occasioned by land use changes which have increasingly added to the siltation of the lakes as seen in the sediment load in the rivers,” the reported noted.
LOCAL INTERVENTIONS
Amidst all these challenges, and even with their resilience, the people of Loiyangalani feel forgotten, even by their local leadership, despite in very clear terms highlighting the solutions to their problems. All the need, they say, is support from the duty bearers.
For instance, when their main road was submerged by the lake, for the fourth time, it is the community that fundraised with their meagre resources and dug a new one using hand tools. This is even as the promise for better roads remain just that: pledges, in part contributed by selfish political interests by some leaders, who have won’t agree on the route.
But in this darkness in a ray of hope by various non-governmental institutions such as the church, who are in their little interventions are doing what they can do.
Such is Fr Gitonga, who through the Masomo Zaidi Youth Education Initiative is helping bright but poor children have access to education, or Teresalba Sintiyan, a community leader and teacher that has amplified the residents’ voices, especially women, and stood ground on what is just for the community.
