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Poor living conditions for the displaced households put them at risk of the COVID-19 pandemic, waterborne diseases, malaria and hunger/CFM – Ojwang Joe

Corona Virus

Perpetual floods pose virus threat to displaced households in Kisumu’s Nyando sub-county

KISUMU, Kenya, April 17 – Over 1,500 people displaced by floods in Nyando Sub County in Kisumu County are calling for the government to speed up rescue efforts to avert a looming crisis fearing that the latest rains pounding the region could add casualties to an already bad situation.

Speaking in Kakola Ombaka where the floods have wreaked havoc, a 58-year-old Joseph Onam Ong’udi, a partially blind man whose was last week filmed submerged in flood waters while pleading for help in a video clip that has gone viral on social media urged the government to take the floods’ crisis seriously before more lives are lost. 

“Don’t take coronavirus as the only disease that is killing Kenyans. Floods too are endangering our lives,” he lamented as he called for a permanent solution to resolve the crisis.

“We are tired. Every year, we see many lives lost due to floods but even that has not made leaders to take this matter seriously.”

Ong’udi whose home was wrecked by floods joined scores of other victims of perennial Nyando floods to call on both levels of the government to act before the humanitarian situation deteriorates.

Since November 2019, floods have displaced people in different parts of Nyando with hundreds in worst hit areas of Ogenya in Kadibo, Kadhiambo in Kawino South, Nduru, and Ayweyo sub locations living in tents.

Others have been integrated in family homes, churches and schools acting as centers of refuge for the internally displaced.

Citing horrible living conditions for the displaced households like the risk of waterborne diseases, malaria, hunger and the COVID-19 pandemic threat, Dorothy Owuor – also displaced by the floods – called on the government to urgently provide relief food even as they explore a permanent solution.

 “We have children and the elderly in these camps and relief food given so far is not enough. The conditions are deplorable,” she lamented. 

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Owuor accused leaders of laxity in resolving the flooding crisis that has continuously posed a threat to households for the last seven years.

“We no longer hear floods displacing people in Budalang’i, what did they do to get it right? Can our leaders learn from them?” she asked.

She is among victims of the floods who are waiting for the government to deliver on promises made by Devolution Cabinet Secretary Eugene Wamalwa when he visited flood victims in Ayweyo earlier in the month accompanied by Kisumu County Governor Anyang’ Nyong’o and Nyando Member of Parliament Jared Okello. 

“Let them build dykes along River Nyando like former MP Opon Nyamunga built for the people of Kimira village who are not displaced anymore and can farm,” she said adding, “how can anyone be satisfied with relief food? We are not beggars and we want to go back to our homes and farm so that we can feed our families.”

Kakola Ombaka Assistant Chief Jacob Ong’udi while acknowledging government relief efforts including distributing of relief food said more needs to be done.

A makeshift tent for a displaced family in Nyando/CFM – Ojwang Joe

“The government distributed rice but it was not enough. Right now, people urgently need relief food, sanitizers, masks, mosquito nets, tents, bar soaps, mobile clinics/mobile camps,” he said. 

In Kakola Ombaka alone, he said there were about 250 households displaced by floods.

 “They lack proper sanitation and there’s no clean drinking water.” 

With 225 confirmed COVID-19 cases, Ong’udi is worried that if the pandemic was to hit areas affected by the floods in Nyando, the results can be catastrophic.

“Those who are camping cannot deal with the issue of social distance because they are overcrowded. They live in tents, people’s homes and it’s hard to keep social distance. So, if one is infected, majority will be,” he said while calling for speedy response.

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He said that the current limitation placed on the citizens by the government to contain the spread of COVID-19 exacerbates an already worse situation.

“There’s curfew that starts at 7 PM. This is the time that some who’ve been working whole day leave their homes to look for food, but they can’t because of the curfew.”

He said that the government is also in the process of documenting vulnerable members of the community for the COVID-19 relief fund approved by the Cabinet. 

Professor Okeyo Owuor, an Environmental Biologist at Rongo University in the School of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Environmental Studies and a native of Ombaka, says that destruction of the wetland through human activities, siltation of water ways and climate change are to be blamed.

Prof. Okeyo says that more needs to be done to cushion people against the long term effects of the floods citing that this is one of the worst floods experienced in the area since the worst flood disaster recorded in 1997-98 associated with the El Nino phenomenon.

“It’s been raining since November. We are in April, but it is still raining so that’s a lot of rain,” he said.

For example, while some pundits say that the Lake is full thereby flowing back into human settlements, Prof Okeyo says that biggest problem is siltation of river inlets.

“We are standing next to Singida, River Nyando’s entry point to Lake Victoria. If you go there, locals have named it ‘mortuary’ because of the many carcasses – both of animals and occasionally of the people found there – and when you add silt River Nyando can’t empty into the lake thereby displacing people.”

The professor who has worked for decades around the lake region in conserving the wetland ecosystem says floods can only be managed before they occur.

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“We need to desilt water ways long before the floods, move some people to higher grounds. With planning, flooding can be managed.”

Kisumu based activist George Collins Owuor who is the Executive Director and runs Transform Empowerment for Action Initiative (TEAM) says that elected leaders are playing politics with the flood menace.

“Floods didn’t start yesterday. They’ve been there for ages. Why was it that during the tenure of the first Governor Jackton Ranguma, floods were unheard of?” he asked.

He says that unless there’s a robust plan before the floods hit, any efforts when the floods arrive are futile.

“Kisumu leaders need to plan with the eventuality of floods through follow ups, budget allocation and multi-sectoral approach to manage the floods.”

He called on the leaders to get away from selfish tendencies where they only look for votes but vanish when the citizenry is suffering.

“Politicians are interested in positions as the citizens suffer. Citizens of Kisumu County are on their own. Their leaders will only come to look for votes, but they won’t be seen during floods,” he remarked as he called on selflessness across board.

“We need selfless leaders from the political, religious and community leadership to put the interest of the people forward,” he concluded.

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