06/09/2026
The Ministry of Environment, Climate Change and Forestry through the State Department for Environment and Climate Change under the leadership and deep consultations with the Principal Secretary Dr. Eng. Festus K Ng’eno, MIEK, CBS, has successfully coordinated a multi agency technical team in a week long assessment of elements at risk in both Lakes Baringo and Bogoria as the country moves closer to the anticipated El Niño rains.
The exercise, which covered nine high-risk locations, including Loruk, Kampi ya Samaki, Loboi and Salabani, established significant impacts from rising lake levels affecting households, schools, health facilities, roads, businesses, farmlands and other critical infrastructure. In Loboi and Kampi ya Samaki, for instance, several tourism establishments and public facilities have been submerged, while in Loruk and Salabani, communities continue to face displacement and loss of livelihoods emerging not only from the rising water levels, but also flash floods from the flowing rivers.
The assessment highlighted the progress in the Government’s response in previous incidents, with several affected institutions and health facilities already relocated to safer ground or operating from alternative facilities. Schools, dispensaries and other essential services have in various cases been moved as water levels continue to rise, helping maintain access to critical services for affected communities.
The assessment provides an important bridge from understanding the risks to implementing practical solutions, ensuring that Government interventions are guided by evidence and the needs of affected communities and that they are addressed before they escalate into a wider disaster.
The communities visited have urgent needs including compensation or support for lost land and livelihoods, access to safer land for relocation, cash or in-kind assistance and support to relocate and restore affected schools, churches and other essential facilities. They also called for restoration of damaged roads and other critical infrastructure and strengthened protection against human-wildlife conflict which has been rampant in almost all the locations the team visited.
The technical team has now retreated to formulate a report which will be presented to the multi-sectoral committee next week, who will then consolidate the technical team’s findings into a comprehensive report for submission to the National Security Council (NSC), thus drawing a clear map of the transitional path from assessment and planning, to now the implementation stage. Kithure Kindiki NTV Kenya BBC News BBC Swahili KBC Channel 1 TV Citizen TV Kenya TV 47 Kenya
