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Famine looms in the North as livestock begins to die
It is happening again, the way it has happened for decades. And as conditions get worse, and their animals begin to die, the herders are like sitting ducks.
“We’re in a terrible situation, and I’m fearing to once again lose my herd,” says 50-year-old Muktar Suleiman.
His herd grazes around Gunana, a border village between Wajir and Mandera districts.
“Our seasonal dam, the only one in this area, dried two months ago. Since then, my cows rely on a bore hole miles away.” says the emaciated man, whose home village was ravaged by the last drought. It previously had 500 families; now seemed deserted following the acute water shortage.
And the few remaining villagers are staring acute hunger and thirst in their faces. Some families rely on a water truck which comes once a week, from Wajir Town over 200 kilometres away.
When the truck arrives, heavily emaciated villagers line up, each family getting 20 litres for the week. It’s the same water they share with their weakest goats.
“Even the largest household gets a maximum of 20 litres. It’s so little most times even the elderly remain thirsty, so that children may survive,” says Mr Suleiman.
Others in the remote village trek long distances to reach the nearest watering point, about 80 kilometres away. Women and children too, hobble across the rough terrain in the tangled bush amid scorching temperatures.
Mr Suleiman has weathered dry seasons, but this time it’s different. “The biggest problem here is water. We have no option. I think in the next few weeks we’ll have to shift completely from this village to wherever we can find water,” he said.
Northern Development and other Arid Lands minister Mohamed Elmi recently visited Gunana Village. “These people are really suffering; they need urgent intervention,” said Mr Elmi.
Many herders like Suleiman, who have lost count of the number of times their herd succumbed to successive droughts in the past few years.
In many pastoral villages of Mandera and Wajir, shortage of water is acute.
In 2006, hundreds of pastoralists families were displaced after close to 80 per cent of their livestock died. Residents fear a similar crippling situation is around the corner. “Fear is always there. Remember we have just emerged from the destruction of a severe drought two years ago, another one is on the horizon,” said Mr Suleiman.
Families in the village are among the 1.2 million Kenyans in northern Kenya facing water and food shortages.
The UN agency World Food Programme, recently warned of a possible catastrophe in the Horn of Africa, citing Kenya’s northern pastoral population among the 14 million people facing hunger.
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