The Turkwel River is one of the few permanent Rivers in Turkana County. The name Turkwel means a river that withstands the wilderness.
The River originates from Mt. Elgon on the border between Kenya and Uganda the passes Cherangany hills in Trans Nzoia, Southern Turkana Plains then through Loturerei desert and ends in Lake Turkana.
Along the river there is Turkwel Dam which was built by Government of Kenya and France between 1986 and 1991. At the time of its construction it was very controversial. It was budget to cost Ksh. 4 billion but it ended up costing Ksh. 20 billion.
The late George Saitoti (Minister for Finance) and late Nicholas Biwott (Minister for Energy) were at the center of the scandals around Turkwel dam.
The construction of the dam was announced without any due diligence, no environmental assessment and no open tendering. It was pure scandal same as Arror-Kimwarer dam in recent times.
Media house were not around to tour the dam site. Despite that Washington Post Nairobi bureau chief sneaked to Turkana trying to find more information about the dam project.
The then district commissioner, Wilson Chepkwony, Turkana district gave him 30 minutes to leave Turkana following orders received from state house.
There is a new bridge across the Turkwel River, this bridge is more raised and wider than the previous one. That means now there is no traffic jams as the ones experienced in the previous years.
see the photos below for more details:
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