Disaster looms as locals destroy landslide-prone Kerio escarpment

The National Environmental Management Authority (Nema) has warned residents against cultivating on the Kerio escarpment.

The National Environmental Management Authority (Nema) has warned residents against cultivating on the Kerio escarpment.

The escarpment stretches more than 70km across Keiyo South and Marakwet East Constituencies.

Yesterday, Nema warned that clearing vegetation and cultivating on the escarpment would trigger landslides during the ongoing rainy season.

Moses Morintet, the Elgeyo Marakwet County Nema director, said the Government planned to gazette the area as a water tower to lock out further human activity on the escarpment.

Mr Morintet said at least 40 per cent of vegetation there had been destroyed by farmers.

“If this continues, it will certainly trigger landslides and pose danger to human lives,” he said.

Continued farming

According to NEMA, thousands of residents who claim the escarpment is their ancestral land have continued farming activities despite several warnings.

Last year, hundreds of residents were displaced and transport paralysed in parts of Elgeyo Marakwet and Baringo due to landslides that followed heavy rains.

This year, massive rocks have begun rolling down the escarpment to Iten-Tamach road.

Elgeyo Marakwet Governor Alex Tolgos welcomed the gazettement of the escarpment as a water tower, saying farming and charcoal burning threatened the survival of rivers.

“This is a serious issue and if it continues, there will be no water flowing to the Kerio Valley," he said.

However, a number of residents have rejected plans to gazette the escarpment, claiming it is communal land.

Admitting that farming on the escarpment was fraught with danger, the residents said more than 10,000 families lived in the area and had no alternative land.

“Last year there were some cracks. But the population is growing and we have no alternative land to grow food,” said Joshua Kiptorus.