Danger looms as village ignores landslide alert

Residents of a landslide-prone zone in Mathioya District in central Kenya have defied a government directive to move to safer grounds even as the rain season sets in.

A spot check by Daily Nation found out that no single family in Kanjama village had responded to warnings by mines and geological department experts on possible landslides. The residents have vowed to stay put demanding that the government must first of all give them alternative land before they consider moving.

“We can see what is happening to the IDPs in Rift Valley, we don’t want to fall victims of empty promises from our government,” a resident who did not want to be named for fear of reprisals from provincial administration said.

The refusal has also affected relocation of Warugara Primary School pupils to the neighbouring schools as parents claim it is not logical for government to just move the pupils during the day while at night they would be back at homes where the danger is.

Mathioya district commissioner Chedotum Kamunyang said: “The government is monitoring the situation and soon we might be forced to relocate the defiant residents forcibly to avert a disaster in the district”. Some 250 homesteads are likely to be relocated. In Tana Delata, more than 5,000 people have been rendered homeless following heavy rains in Tarasaa Division.

Raging floods

Most of the victims were from Kone-Mansa and Wachu Oda locations. The raging floods swept their homes and destroyed property, including livestock.

Area DO Henry Otieno told the Daily Nation that most of the victims had not secured humanitarian assistance. Kenya Red Cross Society officials are on location to assess their situation, he added.

“Most of the people displaced are from Gubani in Wachu Oda location and Mwanja in Kone-Mansa location and they have not yet received any help,” he said. The officer warned that more people were likely to be displaced if the rains persisted.