Kenya seeks cheap power at the expense of Turkana

The water activist said that Mrs Ngilu, had failed in her work as minister by not bringing up the issue in a Cabinet meeting.

The water activist said the people of Turkana would like to be informed about what the governments of Kenya and Ethiopia agreed on in building the dam.

The people of Turkana, Ms Ikal said, would also want to know what the government thought of the future of Lake Turkana, whose national parks form some of Unesco’s World Heritage sites.

Ms Ikal said she felt at home at the activists’ alternative forum and not at the Water Forum because there she met other people who were fighting misguided government initiatives on water, which she says will affect the ordinary folks.

The water week in Istanbul ended on Sunday as the world marked the World Water Day. On this year’s occasion the UN focused its celebration on 263 transboundary lake and river basins like River Omo, saying that the world shares responsibility of managing “transboundary waters for current and future generations.”

The forum and the World Water Day came hot on the heels of a UN report released on March 12, warning of potential conflicts over water scarcity.

The 348-page document titled: “Third World Water Development Report” noted that while the water supply target was being attained by the rest of the World, “sub-Saharan Africa and low income Arab states are far from the target, and some risk backsliding.”

The report noted that in Africa, by 2020, some 75-250 million people may be exposed to increased water stress due to climate change and that “conflicts will likely intensify.”