The East African Standard, Kenya
By Otsieno Namwaya
More than 20,000 people have been displaced, at least five killed, homes submerged, property destroyed, schools shut and some areas completely cut off in the aftermath of Budalang’i floods.
And now authorities are warning that the situation could get worse.
Budalang’i DO, Mr Kennedy Maunde Nyamboga, says water levels increase everyday and flooding is expected to continue for at least four months.
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| Residents of Budalang’i stand on an island created after the floods swept away dykes along River Nzoia. The dykes are a result of raised soil put in sacks many years ago, and have been easily swept away when the floods hit. |
A website set up by a Budalang’i parliamentary aspirant, Mr Ababu Namwamba, to appeal for humanitarian aid for victims also warns of the possibility of the situation getting worse and estimates that the displaced could be well over 40,000.
Having been displaced thrice in less than one year, Budalang’i residents are now spoiling for confrontation with the authorities, against whom they level claims of corruption in the distribution of humanitarian aid and management of funds allocated for construction and repair of the dykes.
The chairman of the dyke management committee, Mr James Opiyo, a retired water superintendent, says so much money has been released for the repair of the dykes, but there is little to show for it.
Locals now want investigations launched into how the money was used since the dykes break every time the water level rises.
Speaking to The Standard from Budalang’i, some residents said it was due to poor workmanship that the frequency of floods from River Nzoia, which empties into the nearby Lake Victoria, has increased from an initial once every ten years to thrice a year.
The current floods started in August and are expected to last four months as the rains in Mount Elgon and Cherengany Hills continue.
The DO says the Government has released more than 210 tonnes of food, which he hopes will last the four months.
"People are receiving food aid as required," said Nyamboga.
Funds misappropriated
This is the third time the floods have hit the area since last November. The second time the floods came was in April, forcing residents to stay in the makeshift structures for more than a month.
Residents say the money released by Government since 1997 is adequate for the construction of new concrete dykes but no sustainable repairs on the current dykes that were constructed in the 1960s and 1970s have been carried out.
The current dykes are raised ground, mainly with soil from riverbed, and are said to have cost less than the amount the Government has spent on their repairs since 1997.
The colonial government constructed the 16.7km long dyke on the southern side in 1961 and the 16.8km long northern dyke in 1977.
Government sources said both dykes cost less than Sh1 million in 1961 and 1977 respectively.
However, the Government has since 1977 released Sh123 million for repairs that were either shoddily done or never done, thus necessitating the current breakages at various points of the dykes.
"This dyke is old. The Government needs to put up a new and stronger one. The new dyke should not be made of soil," says Ms Hellen Nabalayo, the vice chairperson of the dyke management committee, a body formed by residents and whose officials also sit on various other Government planning committees.
The Special Programmes minister, Mr John Munyes, last month said the World Bank had released Sh6 billion for the constructions of dykes in Nyanza and Western provinces while the Government had set aside an additional Sh3 billion for the same.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, an engineer in the Ministry of Roads said a concrete dyke of one metre thick, four metres high for 35km could cost between Sh840 million and one billion.
This, said the engineer, would last over 50 years without floods destroying it.
The dykes are managed by the Ministry of Water and Irrigation.
The ministry’s Busia District resident engineer has not been seen in Budalang’i due to bad blood with the locals, say provincial administration officials.
"I know the residents are hostile to the engineer, but I’m only a few months old here and have no idea what happened," said Nyamboga.
Opiyo, however, said residents resolved not to allow the engineer to work on the dykes further.
"We want an expatriate engineer. Maybe he will do a better job on the dyke. And this time we want to know how the money being released for dykes is used," he said, adding that they had forwarded a request for an inquiry into the past expenditures to the Government.
Budalang’i locals are also taking issue with the way Government officials, particularly chiefs, distribute food aid.
While the DO said food rations were given to the families on a weekly basis, some families said they only received food aid on August 15, when they fled the floods.
Mrs Clementina Anyango, a grandmother of three and whose food granary was swept away by the floods, said they had since been summoned by chiefs several times to go for food rations.
"But every time we go there, they say it is late and food is being taken to the St Annes store for storage.
""That would be the last we hear of that food," she said.
Humanitarian agencies concur with the residents, saying there has been lack of transparency in the food distribution process.
"Food has been brought here at least six times, but nobody knows how much of it has come, when it comes and who receives it.
"They don’t even have a list of the people they give food," said Susan Atieno, the ActionAid programme co-ordinator for Busia.
She says Government appointed Kenya Red Cross to distribute food to the flood victims, but her oganisation’s officials have not been given the food.
