Kenya Red Cross Puts Smile On North Rift Residents With New Irrigation Scheme Projects

• Violence involving pastoralist militias in Kenya accounts for almost 30% of total political violence in the first quarter of 2023, resulting in at least 73 fatalities
• On the whole, most of the armed individuals involved in the violence, are members of the Pokot, Turkana, Marakwet, Tugen, Illchamus, and Samburu communities
• But with calm returning in these areas, Kenya Red Cross Society has announced that it has resumed all of its humanitarian operations in the North Rift region

Nairobi - For decades, the North Rift region has been hard hit by insecurity challenges brought about by pastoralist militias.

Data from the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED) show that there has been a growing trend in pastoralist militia activity in 2023 compared to the same period before 2022.

Violence involving pastoralist militias accounts for almost 30% of total political violence events in Kenya in the first quarter of 2023, resulting in at least 73 reported fatalities.

On the whole, most of the armed individuals involved in the violence, are members of the Pokot, Turkana, Marakwet, Tugen, Illchamus, and Samburu communities.

Why North Rift residents are happy

But with calm returning in these areas, Kenya Red Cross Society announced that it had resumed all of its humanitarian operations in the North Rift region.

Kenya Red Cross Disaster Emergency Preparedness Manager Venant Ndighila Manager told TUKO.co.ke that the organisation had established several life-saving projects for people affected by constant cattle rustling.

The residents, Ndighila revealed were displaced by constant attacks from armed cattle rustlers.

“We must understand that the effects of competing for resources are still there. But we have been continuously working with the affected communities on disaster risk approach,” Ndighila said.

He said that at the moment, Kenya Red Cross is doing joint activities that can support coexistence among conflicting communities thus reducing the risk of skirmishes.

“We have some project activities in Kainuk on the border of Turkana and West Pokot, and Elgeyo Marakwet where we have established several irrigation activities to support communities that had been affected by the conflict,” he explained.

State of Africa’s Food Insecurity

Ndighila spoke to TUKO.co.ke on Wednesday, August 9 after presiding over the Red Cross Crescent Africa Media Café at a Nairobi Hotel.

“Let it also be on record that we are working to sensitise the communities in those areas. We are also working on long-term programmes which promote coexistence,” he added.

The breakfast event brought together regional and international media as the Red Cross Crescent Africa presented the state of Africa’s Food Insecurity Report where it emerged that over 146 million people in Sub-Saharan Africa are acutely insecure.

Zachary Misiani a climate expert from the Kenya Red Cross in a separate interview told TUKO.co.ke that the Red Cross Crescent is focusing on building food resilience in communities through climate-smart livelihoods and agriculture.

“As the Kenya Red Cross, we are working closely with communities in implementing our projects. They need to understand the hazards that are ahead of them. We usually bring in what we call indigenous knowledge so that we develop community-based simplest ways to help them respond to some hazards,” explained Misiani.

On his part, Red Cross Red Crescent Special Advisor on Hunger Crisis Ambassador Mahabub Mohamed said as the regional office, they do follow up on all the issues revolving around food insecurity on the African continent.

“We call for the realisation that hunger is an issue that calls for a multi-sectoral approach. All sectors need to realise that there should be a partnership in all we do to alleviate the hunger crisis on our continent. Also, community involvement is very important,” said Mahabub.

Hunger situation in Sub-Saharan Africa

Mahabub further said that 23 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa are on the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) watch list for the hunger crisis.

“Red Cross Red Crescent's emergency appeal covers 16 countries, aiming to provide assistance to reach 7.7 million people,” he explained.

When reached for comment, Peter Lekulkulai, a resident of Loima sub-county in Turkana told TUKO.co.ke that the initiatives by Kenya Red Cross in the North Rift will go a long way in alleviating hunger in the region.

"We are happy that this will even help our people who had been affected by drought, poverty, and conflict to get back to their feet and engage in farming," pursue less risky occupations," said Lekulkulai.

Earlier, TUKO.co.ke reported that on Saturday, June 17, Kenyan government officials and non-governmental entities congregated in Enoosaen in Narok county to commemorate the Day of the African Child, with food security and cyberbullying coming out as major threats to children's rights.

What Day of the African Child means

The day was designated by the Organisation of the African Union (OAU), the present African Union (AU) to promote children’s rights.

According to the stakeholders, the inability to get food was undermining children's right to access food as provided for by the Constitution of Kenya 2010.

The high cost of living is not helping things either and this right could be undermined for many days to come.

The outcry comes at the time that Kenya is experiencing hard economic times marked by increasing food prices that have seen many families skip meals to cope with the tough times where sugar, bread, milk, and unga prices have skyrocketed.