BY MAINA WARURU

The long awaited El nino started pounding most of Kenya late this week bring relief to farmers and the general populace that has been experiencing a range of difficulties brought about by a lengthy dry spell.

Most parts of Kenya recorded heavy rains beginning Thursday according to media and metrological reports signaling that the predicted El nino rains were finally home.

The Kenya metrological department had predicted El nino rains would hit most parts of Kenya beginning this month after nearly a year of a drought that had wrought suffering across the country.

Nairobi, central Kenya, rift valley and the coast reported three days of heavy downpour as predicted joining the western parts of the country that had recorded similar all of October.

While the rains are being welcomed by long suffering pastoralists, farmers and even the government which had earlier indicated that drought was hurting the economy, Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in rift valley were cursing the positive development.

They complained that the tents they have been living in were waterlogged after the onset of the rains saying that without proper housing the rains were a curse as opposed to a blessing.

Many of them in Eldoret said they spent Thursday night, the draining water from their shanties only for the rains to continue to most of Friday.

Some residents of Keiyo escarpments were at the same time sending an urgent appeal to the government pleading to be relocated from the hilly area fearing that with the intensity of the downpour, landslides were imminent.

But other than IDPs the rest of Kenya was in celebratory mood with farmers and pastoralists alike making plans to maximize from the rains.

“ I’m making arrangements to plant more fodder this weekend to cushion my livestock from starvation in the event of future droughts” said Laban Gatitu a dairy farmer in central Kenya

“I’m also looking forward to planting more trees on my land ”.

The rains it is hoped will water and hydro power generation dams across the country and end the current water shortage being experienced across the capital Nairobi, as well as the on-going power rationing brought by low water levels in power stations .

It is also hoped that food prices will eventually come and abundance will prevail by early next year which will help government save Ksh 1 billion it is spending monthly to feed 10 million starving citizens.

Thousands of livestock has been lost to current drought and for the first time in recent history wildlife has been dying in parks across the country.

The Kenya Wildlife Service, the government body mandated to manage the resource in Kenya has reported 20 deaths of elephants in Tsavo National park and a number of other browsers owing to starvation.

The body has spending millions a month providing water and hay to hippos and buffaloes in Hell’s Gate game reserve one of the worst hit by drought.


The drought has slowed economic growth to 2.5% this year against a projected 4% as government took to spending heavily in food imports and seed and fertilizer subsidies to distribute to farmers in anticipation of rains.

As Kenyans enjoyed the onset of good times fears linger that flooding in western Kenya and coast regions and landslides in central Kenya were imminent.

The metrological department while forecasting the rains earlier in the year called in Kenyans to move to safer grounds to forestall losses of lives and property from the effects of the El nino phenomenon rains.
Ends