Tharaka residents cry out for relief food after crop failure
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.
Hunger-hit residents of the semi-arid parts of Tharaka constituency in Tharaka Nithi County have appealed to the government for relief food and water.
Speaking to reporters in Gatunga, Tharaka North sub-county yesterday, the residents said most permanent rivers had dried up and they and their animals were staring at death.
The region, which borders Kitui County and Meru National Park, has not received rain in the last two years, resulting in crop failure and the drying up of vegetation.
Rivers that used to flow throughout the year, including Thangatha, Ura, Thingithu, Thanantu and Gituma, have dried up. Residents must travel several kilometres to the Kathita and Tana rivers to fetch water for domestic and livestock use.
Weak livestock have started dying because they cannot travel to the Tana River to drink water, said James Mutegi, a village elder in Kiamiramba, Gatunga ward.
Residents relied on the nearby Ura River, which they shared with wild animals from Meru National Park, but it has dried up, and thirsty elephants destroyed wells.
Wild animals
Hungry elephants and other wild animals are now breaking into people’s homes in search of pasture and water, posing a great risk, Mr Mutegi said.
“We are suffering from hunger together with our livestock and the wild animals in Meru National Park, and if there is no intervention, the situation is likely to worsen,” he added.
Herders from the neighbouring Garissa County, he said, have also crossed Meru National Park to local grazing fields, with thousands of livestock eating up all the pasture.
Nicholas Kithaka, another resident, said the national government had promised earlier this year to buy their animals through the livestock offtake programme but that has not happened.
He said the prices of livestock had decreased threefold and businesspeople from far away are taking advantage of the desperate situation.
“We had been promised that the Kenya Meat Commission (KMC) in collaboration with the National Drought Management Authority (NDMA) will buy livestock to save us from incurring huge losses through death and malnutrition but that is yet to happen,” Mr Kithaka said.
The animals were to be slaughtered and the meat shared free of charge among residents and schools in the region.
