Drought bites Wajir, Governor Abdi asks government for help

Tuesday July 16, 2019

A herder from in Eldas constituency in Wajir county with his goats at a water trough on Saturday.

A prolonged dry spell has ravaged Wajir in the last three months with fears of adverse effects on both residents and their livestock.

The Kenya Meteorological Department in early March predicted a below-normal rainfall for the March to May season. In some subcounties, no rain was recorded.

The situation is so bad that both the county leadership and the National Drought Management Authority have sounded an alarm that the situation could get disastrous.

According to the weatherman, the dry spell is expected to continue for four more months making an already bad situation worse.

A spot check in some of the subcounties revealed a dire situation with carcasses of scattered after every short distance.

Even camels that can go for long periods without water have also started dying.

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According to the county NDMA coordinator Hassan Kalmoy, the most affected subcounties are Wajir South, Wajir West and Eldas.

“Most of the water pans have dried up. There is a lot of concentration on the existing shallow wells and boreholes which have water,” Kalmoy told the Star on phone

Governor Mohamed Abdi on Monday called on the national government, NGOs and other well-wishers for support as the situation was getting out of hand.

“As you are all aware we didn't get enough rains in April as we had expected. This has had adverse effects on our livestock because their body condition is getting worse by the day,” Abdi said.

The county boss spoke to journalists in his office.

He said the water department has already embarked on carrying out a number of initiatives that are aimed at mitigating drought.

He said the department has drilled 30 new emergency boreholes in its efforts to address the water crisis.

“This has reduced the distance pastoralists travel in search of water because the majority of the animals especially the weak ones were dying on the way to watering points,” he said.

According to the water chief officer Yussuf Dayib, the department has instituted a quick response team to counter the emergence of new water trucking centres.

The team is also tasked with addressing emergency borehole breakdowns as well as enhancing regular borehole maintenance.

Eldas MP Adan Keynan and his Wajir West counterpart Ahmed Kolosh speaking to the press in Wajir town accused the national government of not giving the matter the seriousness it deserves.

“Our people are losing their treasured livestock left right and centre unfortunately no one seems to care. We have time and again urged the national government to declare the drought a national disaster but it seems not interested to do so,” Keynan said.

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