The Turkana calamities.
How can the Turkana gods be such unmerciful that they unleash their wrath at the worst moments of time for them? Just the other day, Ethiopian raiders stormed their ancestral land, terrorized them, killed them then made away with herds of cattle. Recently, there was a drought that almost swept the settlers off the Earth and now floods have taken over.
This is not only affecting the Turkana people but they seem to have the most ruthless gods ever. Nairobi has also been experiencing heavy rains and blood clotting cold but that, for Nairobians has been taken care of.
This being the case, it seems that anything that comes in Turkana comes just like the bible says, to steal, kill and destroy. What a pity.
The recent floods that cost lives broke river banks in Turkana and resulted in massive loss of property and lives was very heart breaking. I those lines, considering that the region has been under the paw of drought and shortage of food, the government has to act on a long term solution or else this is a ghost that will continue haunting us time and again.
Considering that there is a ministry allocated the responsibility of ensuring the people of North Eastern have a safe life to live, the government should stop thinking of putting measures in place and instead practically move in and clear the mess.
This is not a time to keep pledging but to act and act fast and for all. The ministry of The Development of Northern Kenya & other Arid Lands should move in to ensure the region is not a dependant but able to produce for the dwellers. Otherwise, what has this ministry done to benefit these people since its inception?
Since disaster seems to be the best teacher for the Kenyan situation, this time round, the government should not take this lightly as has been a norm.
Academic researches
I recently wrote about the government institutions and universities putting their research projects in practice. I am of the opinion that we have professors in disaster management who have done researches on disaster management but their findings lie on shelves slowly gathering dust.
If our government institutions and university dons collaborated and worked together, these disasters in the north should be a historical phenomenon by now. Unlike in other developed nations where student researches are used to solve local problems, the Kenyan education system, seems to solely concentrate on exam basis and in-house exams thus we have no real graduates to assist in such situations.
The Kenyan researches are kind of meant for grades and not for the benefit of the nation and the society at large.
Students of Disaster Management should practically visit these places, do extensive research then use their findings to enrich the livelihoods of the people living in these stricken areas. Our students should not just relay on in-house and exam based education yet in the outside world they are set to counter real life situations calling for practical skills which they may fall short of.
Temporal solutions to recurrent calamities are not a good idea for a nation given that the Turkana situation has been one of such. By now, the government through a strong disaster management committee should have set measures in place to see to it that these calamities are a gone case.
I strongly suggest that the government focuses on a strong a forestation, building of dams and gabions where necessary and other water reservoir to avoid any future disaster. This has been a long pending initiative that should be up by now.
Best solution.
Although Turkana has been the hard hit community, I suggest that the government through the Metrological department put up strategies incase of a forecast of a looming disaster. It should help in digging up of water pans, unlocking blocked drains and building water reservoirs to save the water in times of floods to be used during the leaner times or better still, for irrigation.
On the other hand, the government through the research institutions like KARI (Kenya Agriculture Research Institute) could also assist in alleviating food security by developing drought resistant crops and short time crops suitable for these environs.
If the government in conjunction with our learning and research institutions put these measures in place, these regions are going to be independent thus cutting government costs on the distribution of humanitarian aid in these areas thus, the money could be channeled into other development projects.
Since tragedy seems to be the most suitable trigger that jolts the government into action, I think this time we have had a lot in those lines and the government should there fore work on permanent or long time solution instead of the usual short time solutions to recurrent troubles.
