On 31st January, 2020 I paid a courtesy call to friends and partners in Isiolo County.
After completing my official duties I met Aden (a friend I knew since 2016) at Madiba Hotel along the Isiolo-Moyale highway. On the agenda we had numerous things to discuss. At the top of that list was the locust ‘plague’ which has hit Kenya with a bang.
Media outlets have been actively informing us that a single swarm of locusts can have as many as 40 million insects.
I remember Yvonne Okwara of Citizen TV informing us during one of the news broadcasts that these insects can consume as much as 80 million metric tonnes of green vegetation in a day and above all they consume anything green.
When I heard this, my imagination ran wild. I would image them descending on a miraa plantation and when they fly away they leave behind dry twigs and plenty of economic losses.
Aden, informed me that yesterday (30th Jan 2020) the locusts were seen within the city for the first time. He further informed me that the locals of various ‘bulas’ in Isiolo have devised a strategy of chasing the locusts and making sure that they do not land in their villages. The locusts only get a relief when it rains and people run to shelter in their houses. That is when they land on any vegetation and cause wanton destruction!!!!!!
A way from the locusts, we also discussed the lifestyle of a herder in Isiolo. As you may already be aware. Most Somalis, Boranas, Turkanas, Samburus who predominantly occupy the North Eastern region of Kenya practice pastoralism.
This is the region which the former dictator of Somali Said Barre once claimed to be part of Somalia in the same style former dictator of Uganda Idi Amin Dada claimed that the land all the way way to Naivasha belonged to Uganda. If this two claimed materialized, then, Kenya would be a strip of land between Naivasha and Isiolo and I have realized that I would now be a Uganda since I originate from the western region of this motherland.
We then shifted the gears and discussed how Livestock Marketing Division (LMD) was once the leading marketing for livestock in Kenya in the early 1990s. This was a reality check considering that many governments around the world do not consider pastoralism, hunting and gathering to be serious economic activities. This must change by highlighting stories about these indigenous communities and how their livelihoods can be improved for the better.
Cosmopolitan
I was informed that Isiolo County has all communities from all corners in Kenya. In one word we call it cosmopolitan. Borana are the majority, Somalis take the second place followed by Turkana, Meru and Samburu in that order. These are locally known as the ‘Big Five’. The rest of Kenyan tribes are known as M37 – whatever that means.
Isiolo International Airport
Now let’s us talk a little bit of this idle international airport which was constructed as part of the Lamu Port South Sudan Ethiopia Transport (LAPSSET) Corridor. Delays have been experienced due to inadequate finances and now I’m informed that it has been taken over by the African Union as part of a big plan to improve inter-connectivity in the African continent.
A large part of Isiolo International Airport I’m reliably informed is in Meru. What I mean here is that the runway stretches all the way from Isiolo to Meru. The grapevine informs me that they are some whispers that it should be renamed ‘Meru International Airport’. What is in a name?
Elsewhere, Meru has set aside 100 acres of land to be used for constructing warehouses or go-downs for storing goods to be transported from Meru to external markets. These goods include: miraa, vegetables and mangoes among others. I am not sure if transportation of fruits is the best use of air transport. I will dig further into this matter to bring you more gist.
Finally, we catched up on the construction of the crocodile jaw dam across the Kipsing Gap in Isiolo. The construction of this dam raised a lot of concerns from the locals because it would divert water from River Ewaso Nyiro. Pasoralists would not accept this to happen because their livestock down stream would suffer.
