Millions wasted as Red Cross projects are abandoned

When drought and famine swept across Turkana in 2011, claiming dozens of lives, Kenyans and companies, in a way never seen before, responded to the calamity by donating almost Sh1 billion to a food emergency response initiative.

The initiative, “Kenyans for Kenya”, was run by the Kenya Red Cross, the charity’s most successful fundraising project since it was founded 54 years ago.

Other than supplying relief food and water, the Kenya Red Cross launched multi-million-shilling development projects aimed at transforming the desperately poor area by providing alternative forms of farming to locals, who are pastoralists.

The Kenya Red Cross pledged to help the community by supplying them with relief food, digging boreholes and establishing food projects. In essence, the project was to provide an alternative to the over-reliance on hunting for pasture and killing each for cows and goats.

But, after eight years, the Kenya Red Cross legacy in the north, where cattle raids still continue, is a sour one.

ABANDONED SITES

The Nation went in search of the nearly Sh300 million spent on projects and found a string of abandoned sites, materials costing millions of shillings at the sites and dubious claims of success, according to a review of dozens of pages of the charity’s documents, as well as interviews.

On record, the Kenya Red Cross says that all the investments were a success. But on the ground things are different.

As part of our investigation series “Rustlers Paradise”, we travelled to the far-flung regions to inspect the Kenya Red Cross marque projects.

The first place we visited was Kaikor, a small town in Turkana North constituency where the only guest house, run by the Catholic Church, has six rooms.

The town sits in a dry arid area. There is no running water. Human waste is buried in shallow holes outside manyattas made up of twigs.

Just a few kilometres past Kaikor there is a small centre known as Nakinomet, where we found a roadside sign with the words “Turkana North Food Security Livelihood Project,” funded by the Kenyans for Kenya initiative.

The locals we met asked for food and water from us. They said they did not have food after Toposa raiders from neighbouring South Sudan invaded the area last year and took away all the goats and cows.

They also killed five locals.

Maraga Romoru, a 28-year-old father of two, explained how they watched millions pumped into a project that was soon abandoned.

At its peak, the project fed the 300 to 350 households living in the area, with each home made up of six to eight members. It also included residences for agriculture extension officers, who worked at the model farm and offered training to the locals on modern ways of farming.

He explains that in 2013, the Red Cross came with glossy booklets saying it could turn the fortunes of the area through improved farming and providing new market centres for the produce. But it seems all this was just a public relations exercise.

“They planted maize, watermelons, spinach, onions and tomatoes. We only harvested maize as the other crops were destroyed,” Mr Romoru recalls.

They have never come back to carry out any construction

Mr Romoru said they were told that a water valve for the system supplying the project with water had failed.

“They said that the Red Cross will come to replace or fix it. To date, no one has ever come back. Not even the county government, which promised to help,” he says.

The water valve, which probably costs a thousand shillings, if not hundreds, has arguably contributed to the fall of the Red Cross project located in Nakinomet.

The site looks like a fallen giant industrial hub, which is now a monument to the failures of the project that was supposed to provide an alternative livelihood for the cattle and goat herders.

“There were 32 greenhouses. Strong winds swept away most of the construction materials. Only metal bars, which are wearing away, remain,” laments David Naboel, a trader in the area.

A few kilometres from Nakinomet, the same story is replicated at a small centre known as Loitanit, where a water point established by the Kenya Red Cross has provided relief to locals and their animals.

However, the food security project is just a shell.

“They (Red Cross) brought huge water pipes, water tanks, chain links for fencing and greenhouse equipment and dumped them here. They have never come back to carry out any construction. The equipment costing millions of shillings is just rotting,” complains 57-year-old Sheikh Ahmed, who has lived in Loitanit since he was 17.

In Tiaty, local residents also protest that the Chesimirion Dam has become a waste of funds.

The explanation they are given is that the newly built road from Marigat to Chemolingot “blocked” the water from draining into the dam.

The official explanation by the Kenya Red Cross is that all these projects were a success.

“As for the long-term livelihood and food security projects, please note that under this Kenyans4Kenya fund, the initiatives were pilots meant to demonstrate an outlook of what could be done,” a statement from the charity reads.

After allegations that the Kenya Red Cross (KRC) had utilised the Kenyans for Kenya initiative funds poorly, former KRC secretary-general Abbas Gullet spoke on NTV in March.

He said the organisation had received donations totalling Sh956 million, out of which about Sh277 million was in kind and the rest in cash.

“We split the cash donations into two lots. The first Sh353 million was used for the purchase of foods and distribution of water while Sh323.9 million was invested in long-term projects,” he explained.

Mr Gullet said that KRC selected three areas for the long-term projects: Walda in Moyale, Kaikor in Turkana and Chesimirion in East Pokot.

“All the projects were a success as we were able to prove the concept that you can … produce food in semi-arid and arid areas,” he said, defending the organisation.

DISTANT LOCATION

He also said the organisation spent Sh121.3 million in the Kaikor project.

“It was expensive to have the project at Kaikor since the place is very far. It’s about 300 to 400km by road from Lodwar. We dug 12 boreholes but water came out from only four of them,” he explained.

Mr Gullet said that the Kaikor project ran for four years, after which it was handed over to the local community through area MP John Munyes.

“The project lacked long-term investment. Since we didn’t have resources to continue with the project, we had to hand it over to the local community and the government. It is the local people who messed it up. For instance, they took the drip irrigation pipes and used them to make beads,” he said.

In Chesimirion, the problem was the water levels, he explained.

“There is nothing wrong with the dam. Close to 40,000 cattle, sheep and goats drink from the dam. The problem has been the shortage of rains, which in turn affects the water levels,” he said.

Mr Gullet insists that the Walda project in Marsabit was successful because Nema provided additional funds to ensure its continuity.