UPSTREAM ACTIVITIES-HARMING SOMALIA

Central-Western Deputy PC Wycliffe Ogallo yesterday said internally displaced families settled on Lake Ol Bolosat Riparian land had been relocated to safer grounds ahead of the onset of the El-Nino rains.

Speaking to the Nation in his office in Nyahururu, Mr Ogallo said 85 families residing at the riparian land had been moved to Subukia where they were settled on land recently bought by the government. The move will enable an afforestration project planned for the riparian area funded under the Kazi kwa Vijana programme to take off.

The regional Commissioner said that another group of displaced families settled on the sloppy sections of Aberdare Ranges feared to be prone to mudslides were also relocated to Subukia in Nakuru North constituency.

Last week, elated families earlier settled at Mawingo in Milangine district were transported to Rongai in Nakuru district where they were allocated land.

“We need decongest Mawingo very small and uneconomically unviable for anyone to carry out any meaningful agricultural activity. The relocated families have now a chance to start their lives afresh and rebuild them in a peaceful area,” added the Deputy PC.

14,000 people are settled on the 50 acre farm they bought from a Nairobi resident and have since October last year been residing in tents.

Mr Ogallo said the move was aimed at averting disaster in case of flooding in the lake catchment area whose water level has been rising as the rains continue to increase.

The families that lived at the riparian land had appealed for assistance saying hippos had been invading the area with a view to seek forage around the tents.The area is not suitable for settlement due to its poor drainage and proximity to the lake.

Yesterday, Mr Ogallo said that 110 tonnes of maize, beans and other fast maturing seeds had been distributed to various residents in the Greater Nyandarua region saying this would enable farmers take advantage of the rains.

The rains continued to pound Nyandarua and its environs non-stop last night with calls by the deputy PC that fast maturing crops be planted and that water be harvested within individual farms via small ponds.