Turkana MCAs sound alarm over slow drought response
Echakan Amaja Namoni, 76, eats wild doum palm fruit (Hyphaene thebaica) outside tukul shelter in Loperot village near Lokichar in Turkana County n February 16, 2026. The county has been hit by severe drought.
Members of the Turkana County Assembly have raised concerns over what they describe as a slow and uneven response to the ongoing drought affecting all 30 wards in the county, which is currently at alert stage.
Through an adjournment motion, the MCAs said more than 120,000 households are in urgent need of relief food due to severe food insecurity.
It has recently emerged that thousands of drought-stricken residents in remote parts of the county have yet to receive relief food due to logistical challenges, even as the government insists it has sufficient supplies to prevent hunger-related deaths.
An estimated 322,000 starving residents in the county’s remote villages remain without aid because relief food is trapped in government warehouses, held up by logistical bottlenecks, bureaucratic delays, and impassable roads.
Echakan Amaja 76, eats wild doum palm fruit (Hyphaene thebaica), outside her shelter in Loperot village in Turkana County on February 16, 2026. The county has been hit by severe drought.
Elderly residents, children, and people living with disabilities in villages such as Lokipoto, Nakitongo, and Kibish wait for food that cannot reach them because of logistical breakdowns and bureaucratic hurdles.
At the county assembly sitting, Lokichar MCA Samwel Lomodo described a worsening humanitarian situation, citing villages with little or no access to food and water.
“We have Lokitoliwo village at the border of Turkana East and Turkana South sub-counties, where even hydrological surveys have shown that a borehole cannot be drilled. Most villages in my ward, including Kapese and Kasuroi, have not received relief food,” he said.
“Recently, while travelling from a burial in neighbouring Kalapata ward, I encountered boreholes that were completely dry,” he stated.
Mr Lomodo said the drought has led to acute water shortages, depletion of pasture, livestock losses, food insecurity and rising malnutrition among children and vulnerable groups. He warned that prolonged inaction could escalate into a broader humanitarian crisis affecting livelihoods, school attendance, public health and socio-economic stability.
During a stakeholder forum at a Lodwar hotel on Monday, which brought together local leaders, government officials, and representatives from humanitarian and non-governmental organisations, Cabinet Secretary Geoffrey Ruku was informed that some Deputy County Commissioners have been forced to sell portions of relief food to hire trucks, leaving some affected areas without aid.
Even as humanitarian agencies and government departments mobilise, coordination gaps slow delivery. Satellite imagery used to track drought risks misclassifies evergreen acacia and Prosopis juliflora plants as pasture, masking the severity of scarcity.
“We have food in storage, yet people continue to suffer because getting it to remote villages is a daily struggle,” said a local leader.
A cow's carcass out in the open in Hirimani area, Tana River County on February 13, 2026. The current drought has caused the deaths to hundreds of livestock in the county.
Local MPs have highlighted deep failures in the government’s emergency response, noting that relief food continues to pile up in stores while pastoralists and villagers trek long distances for water and forage, some walking up to 10 kilometres daily, while others survive on wild fruits.
At the meeting with the Public Service, Human Capital Development, and Special Programmes CS, Turkana West MP Daniel Epuyo said that relief food received at the Deputy County Commissioner’s office is left in the stores because no funds have been allocated to distribute it to the affected villages.
Turkana North MP Ekwom Nabuin reported a four-month delay in relief allocations to his constituency, located near the Kenya-Ethiopia border and even when allocations arrive, transporters sometimes refuse to deliver to certain areas.
Some villages in Kibish Sub-County, headquarters about 400 kilometres from Lodwar, have gone without aid entirely, and pastoralists migrating to Uganda, Ethiopia, and South Sudan are largely forgotten once they cross borders.
“Areas where they settle are remote and don’t have shops for food. They are left at the mercy of God and host communities,” Mr Nabuin said.
“We have major challenges in food relief and drought response in Turkana North and Kibish Sub-Counties, which have been grappling with four months of delayed distributions. They did not receive their allocation from September, and although the January shipment for Kibish arrived, it has not been distributed. The transporter even declined our request to deliver relief to some villages along the route,” the MP stated.
Mr Epuyo, his Turkana West MP, Daniel Epuyo, painted the logistical nightmare.
“My constituency covers 16,000 square kilometres. Once relief food arrives in Kakuma, there is no money to deliver it to remote villages such as Lokipoto, 95 kilometres away on roads that are barely motorable. This has remained a major hurdle,” he said.
County Disaster Management Executive Patrick Losike, who appeared before the County Assembly Committee on General Oversight, told MCAs that 22 wards had received relief food supplies as of Wednesday.
“Wards that have received relief food so far are 22. There are some that will have received supplies by the end of the day. Those yet to receive are Lobei/Kotaruk, Turkwel, Kangatotha, Lodwar Township and Kanamkemer,” he said.
Mr Losike attributed delays to logistical challenges and supplier constraints, noting that some contractors were unable to deliver food in bulk quantities. He assured the assembly that all targeted beneficiaries would be reached within eight days.
Nominated MCA Mary Nakwapwan criticised what she termed a delayed response, saying many residents were already experiencing severe hardship.
“It has taken us too long to respond. Livestock are emaciated and many families, even in Lodwar town, are going for days without a decent meal,” she said.
She called for accountability, questioning whether profiteering and poorly implemented irrigation projects were undermining long-term drought mitigation efforts.
“For how long will Turkana residents rely on relief food? We must prioritise sustainable projects such as functional boreholes and irrigation schemes,” she said.
Katilu MCA William Etubon urged the county government to shift focus from small-scale drip irrigation to revitalising large-scale schemes such as Katilu and Morulem, which he said require Sh50 million to resume production. He also called for compensation or restocking programmes for victims of banditry who have lost livestock.
Kaeris MCA Patrick Napion highlighted severe water shortages in his ward and proposed increased investment in water harvesting infrastructure, including dams and rainwater storage tanks, to cushion residents against future drought and anticipated floods.
County Executive for Agriculture, Livestock Development and Fisheries Mr Michael Eregae said livestock mortality currently stands at 10 per cent. He noted that the county, national government and development partners are supporting herders with supplementary feeds, vaccination and treatment.
Dr Eregae said the county has strengthened the Kenya Animal Bio-Surveillance (KABS) system, a mobile-based platform for monitoring and managing livestock diseases. He confirmed an outbreak of Peste des Petits Ruminants (PPR), commonly known as goat plague, a highly contagious viral disease affecting sheep and goats.
“Targeted mass vaccination is underway. In collaboration with Concern Worldwide, we plan to vaccinate 600,000 livestock in Kaeris, Kangatotha, Kerio, Kaaleng/Kaikor, Lapur, Katilia and Nakalale,” he said.
The county government has budgeted for 1,650 bags of range cubes to support 3,200 households, while Concern Worldwide is distributing 6,660 bags to 3,000 households this week. The national government recently delivered 8,923 bags of hay to affected herders across the county.
Despite these interventions, MCAs maintain that faster coordination and more sustainable investment will be critical to preventing recurring drought emergencies in one of Kenya’s most climate-vulnerable counties.
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