Seven die as hunger bites in Turkana South

By Lucas Ng’asike

Turkana County

Seven people are feared to have died of starvation in Kalapata location of Turkana South District.

The victims are reported to have succumbed to hunger after they went without food and water for several days.

Turkana County Kenya Red Cross Society co-ordinator Edward Edung Ethuro said they received the report of the victims who succumbed to hunger over the weekend.

"We are moving to the ground to verify the report, though we are aware that the area was hardest hit by drought," Ethuro said on telephone yesterday.

Area councillor Samson Ekuwom said more than 20,000 people are threatened by starvation in the area after their livestock perished due to drought.

Ekuwom said the water wells have dried up forcing people to trek for more than 50 kilometres to look for the commodity.

He appealed to the Government and relief agencies to intervene to avert the looming hunger crisis that has already claimed lives.

"We appeal to the Government to move very fast and supply relief food before the situation gets out of hand," Ekuwom said.

Senior District Officer (DO1) Bethwel Sang admitted that the situation was critical due to delay in supply of relief food.

He said people in the area have been threatened by hunger due to an acute food deficit experienced in the past month. The DO1 said a transportation hitch had made the situation worse. He said the Government and the World Food Programme (WFP) had enough food in their stores to distribute to the victims.

"We have enough food but we lack the capacity to transport it after transporters went on strike," Sang said.

He said the only Government truck they used to transport the food was grounded a month ago. It has been taken for repair and they expect to resume relief food distribution next week. A well-wisher had offered a truck to transport the food to the areas worst hit by the drought.

Sang denied any death as a result of starvation in the area. He said the World Vision and the Government’s relief food supply had reached the victims last month.

"I’m not aware of any death as a result of starvation, but I can confirm that the situation was so critical," he said.

District malnutrition survey indicates that Kalapata Location has the highest rate of malnourished children.

Sang explained that the area was adversely affected by hunger as people entirely depended on relief food after their livestock died.