The Tsomnyazi Times: The Curse in Turkana; Poverty, NGOs' and Politicians' Cash cow!

There is no denying that Turkana land is dry, very hot and dry. The people literally survive on aid. There are hundreds of trucks supplying food most of the time. Most of the aid is from NGOs, the Government of Kenya and other friendly foreign governments-USA and Japan

Long before the much hyped discovery of water reserves, Turkana has always had adequate water supply. Sample this: All Catholic missions in Lodwar have always had boreholes with the cleanest water ever. And this is because the Catholic Church, has been in the region for a long time. All institutions (Schools, hospitals) started, run and sponsored by the Catholic Church have adequate water supply. The logic here is simple: management and vision.

The NGOs that support some programmes in Lodwar, like World Vision, have also helped in drilling boreholes. Get any NGO to give you clear stuff on what they do in Turkana, and visit the place in person! You will be shocked to find nothing.

Out of 20boreholes that an NGO claims to drill, you will be lucky to find 3! Most of their personnel will be staying in Kitale and Nairobi and only troop back when some inspectors from their headquarters are visiting.

Sometimes in 2010 when the M&E team from World vision visited a local parish in Turkana with 8 local-based staff, the 8 staff had never been seen or heard in the area prior to the visit and after the M&E team left, they were never seen again.

Development: Turkanas are very unique. After the many years of underdevelopment and dependence on foreign aid, those people hardly want any work. For them, they are victims of exploitation from “other Kenyans” and so they view any “foreigner” as an exploiter. This is evident from their near hostility against people from outside Turkana land.

Turkana leaders have always taken advantage of their people’s plight. All the leaders actually live and dine in Nairobi while appearing to represent the locals. Coincidentally, the locals trust their “own” so much so that anything said against them is an attack on the Turkanas by people from outside.

It's shocking that Turkana MPs rarely visit their people for along time. Take an example of Senator John Munyes. This gentleman owns and flies his own light aircraft. He pilots himself. So, he will fly to Eliye Springs, on the shores of Lake Turkana, which is basically like the beaches of Mombasa. He owns a small resort club there. After a good time with his elite friends, he flies back to Nairobi. The people are so fond of him, as a Turkana who owns a plane! If you need to meet the Governor, you better get him in Nairobi.

Agriculture: Water from boreholes in Turkana is adequate to cultivate watermelons, Sukuma wiki, kunde, tomatoes, onions, cabbages, maize and beans. Bumper harvest through out the year is possible. Surprisingly, most of the locals would not want to engage themselves in cultivation. They all await stuffs ferried in from Trans Nzoia, which is very expensive. Others would rather await msaada.

The catastrophe:
1. Political leaders collude with NGO bosses to financially benefit from the plight of the people. Observe that almost all leaders from Turkana, (Current Governor, Speaker of Senate, MPs) were at one time in the NGO world prior to joining politics.

2. It is an uphill task to enlighten the Turkanas. They are so used to Misaada that they won’t take up challenges. And any attempt to get them to do something for themselves, is often met by hostility. They will demand for jobs, (remember riots against UN in 2010 and against Tullow Oil last year?) but they do not have the will to handle them. That explains why when it came to scholarships, Tullow oil was accused of dishing out the scholarships to non-Turkanas.

3. Try starting a people-driven project and you’ll see the local leadership troop back to Turkana, inciting their people that you are getting funding from abroad in the guise of helping Turkanas, and soon, the locals rise up against you!