Stop blocking rivers, Tharaka Nithi residents warned
A man fetching water in a well dug in the middle of dry Thanantu River in Tharaka constituency, Tharaka Nithi County. Residents of the hunger-hit Tharaka constituency have called on the government to provide them with relief food and water.
Tharaka Nithi County Commissioner Mr Nobert Komora has asked the Water Resources Authority (WRA) to sue people who have diverted rivers to their farms denying those downstream the commodity.
Addressing the media at his office on Monday, Mr Komora said most of the permanent rivers coming from Mt Kenya forest are flowing upstream but completely dry downstream in Tharaka constituency.
Mr Komora said WRA officers should comb the rivers and ensure people do not continue to illegally divert water to their farms while those downstream are suffering together with their livestock.
“No one is allowed to close a river or a section of it to the detriment of those downstream and that is why we want WRA to act,” said Mr Komora.
Domestic use
Rivers that flow throughout the year including, Thangatha, Ura, Thingithu, Thanantu and Gituma have dried up forcing residents to travel for several kilometres to Kathita and Tana rivers to fetch water for domestic use and also water their livestock.
Suffering wild animals in Meru National Park are breaking into villages in search of water and pasture while others are migrating to the upper side of the park.
Mr Komora said data by National Drought Management Authority (NDMA) shows more than 38517 people in the drought-hit Tharaka constituency are in serious need of food and water but assured that the government is doing everything possible to ensure no person succumbs to hunger.
The NDMA county coordinator Mr Kiragu Kariuki said about7704 households in Gatunga, Chiakariga, Mukothima, Marimanti and Nkondi wards are hit-hard by the effects of the drought.
Crop maturity
He noted that for the last three years the region has been receiving depressed rainfall not enough to support crop maturity or even grow pasture.
“We are currently in the stressed phase of the drought and we expect the situation to worsen because the meteorological department has indicated that the rain will come late and it will be depressed,” said Mr Kariuki.
Kenya Red Cross Society Tharaka Nithi county coordinator Jerusha Nyaga said last week they donated food to 150 vulnerable households in Kanjoro, Tharaka North.
She added that 523 households had also been enrolled in a cash transfer Emergency Drought Response Programme.
“We gave each of the 150 vulnerable households 10 kilograms of rice, five kilograms of beans, cooking oil and salt that will take them some few days,” said Ms Nyaga.
