Since Kenya attained independence in 1963, Northern Kenya has arguably remained sidelined and marginalized. The region is generally underdeveloped as compared to the rest of the country. Sixty-four percent of the inhabitants live below the poverty line. The infrastructure is pathetic, with its more than 1800km road stretching from the capital Nairobi to Mandera in the north untarred. More than ninety percent of households in the province have no access to power. There is a persistent lack of water and food in the region.

“Three meals a day is a luxury” says Fatuma Hussein who ekes out a living as a milk vendor at Orahey market in Wajir town.

Fatuma who moved into town after their livestock perished in the 2005 drought feeds her family with such meager income and the predicament is the same in the entire Northern Kenya.

In most parts of region, the majority of households live in makeshift homes locally called herio made of inferior materials for roofing, flooring, and walls.

The people who mainly depend on humanitarian aid have not known other alternative source of livelihood apart from pastrolism and this become too risky due to recurrent drought.

Extreme poverty

More than half of the country’s 38.6 million people are poor, and 7.5 million of the poor live in extreme poverty. The poorest are found in the barren zones of the country, mainly in the north eastern region. One and a half million Kenyans living in arid and semi-arid lands are food insecure, resulting into acute malnutrition especially in children below the age of five years.

“Response to hunger and vulnerability through ad-hoc food relief is often very costly to deliver and has no flexibility in terms of extending family expenditure beyond food consumption. Many times, families receive food relief sell part of it to obtain cash to meet other non-food needs,” reads a statement from the ministry of northern Kenya and other arid lands.

The ministry was specifically formed to handle the myriad challenges the region is facing but little can be written home about since its inception.

“The so-called ministry of Northern Kenya and other arid lands is a whitewash, a little more than a public relation exercise to hoodwink the residents,” says Billow Kerrow an economic analyst and former Member of Parliament for Mandera Central.

A recent study by Hunger Safety Net shows that Turkana, Marsabit, Wajir and Mandera districts which all fall under northern Kenya have the highest poverty rates of more than 80%.



Northern Kenya has experienced frequent livelihood setbacks, mainly related to droughts that have contributed to losses of livestock. Livestock production is the principal means of livelihoods for most households in northern Kenya.

Cost of education

Poverty and illiteracy are typically concurrent and are synonymous with Northern Kenya. The inhabitants who are mainly livestock keepers give less precedence to education. The official illiteracy rate in the North Eastern region is unbelievably at 92 per cent. Many people here have never had an opportunity to go to school. The few lucky ones grapple with poverty and hopelessness

“I withdrew my children from school because I could not afford to pay their school fees,” says Hassan Ali a resident of Wagberi village in Wajir.

The North Eastern Province endures acute shortages of learning institutions and relies heavily on poorly equipped government schools. Persistent droughts have not made the grave situation simpler as nomads withdraw students from schools to cater of the livestock.

Educational enrolment, retention and performance in Northern Kenya are significantly lower than the rest of the country. For example, primary enrolment in North Eastern Province is still below 30%.

“Even as the government subsidized the cost of secondary education in Kenya the situation is still too much to bear for many here,” states the district education officer, Abdi Goto.