CS Murkomen to launch Ksh.14.7B Cherangany Hills Restoration Programme after Chesongoch tragedy

The 10-year Cherangany Hills Ecosystem Restoration for Livelihood Improvement, Sustainability and Harmony (CHERISH) Programme will be funded through donations, private sector partnerships and individual contributions under Murkomen’s patronage, as he seeks to rally broad-based support for the rehabilitation of more than 62,000 hectares of degraded forest and riparian land beginning in 2026.

The October 31, 2025 disaster struck Chesongoch after hours of heavy rainfall triggered fast-moving landslides that swept through homes, farms and valley settlements. Survivors describe a sudden and eerie shift in conditions shortly before the catastrophe unfolded.

Mathias Jelimo, one of the survivors, recalled how the night turned from ordinary rainfall into a life-threatening emergency within moments.

“By around 9 p.m., the valley changed. The land went completely silent… we asked, what is wrong?” he said.

Moments later, a thunderous roar broke the silence as mud and floodwaters surged downhill, forcing families to flee in darkness. With roads cut off and access to medical facilities severed, residents mounted desperate rescue efforts, pulling neighbours from the debris and converting nearby schools into makeshift emergency shelters.

By morning, the full scale of destruction had become evident—homes flattened, farms washed away, and entire sections of the valley radically reshaped.

In response, the government has launched the CHERISH programme, a major ecological restoration initiative targeting the rehabilitation of 62,038 hectares of degraded land across the Cherangany ecosystem over the next decade.

Murkomen, who is the programme’s patron, said the increasing frequency of landslides and other climate-related disasters underscores the urgent need to treat environmental degradation not only as an ecological concern, but also as a matter of national security and human safety.

The initiative is designed to combine environmental recovery with economic empowerment by creating sustainable livelihood opportunities for communities living around the Cherangany ecosystem. The KSh14.7 billion programme is projected to generate more than 500,000 green jobs through activities such as agroforestry, eco-tourism, beekeeping and landscape restoration.

It will also focus on restoring forest cover, protecting water towers, rehabilitating riparian zones and promoting sustainable livelihoods, while aligning with the government’s broader target of planting 15 billion trees by 2032.

Murkomen is expected to formally launch the CHERISH programme in Kapyego, Marakwet East, on May 22, 2026, in a large-scale indigenous tree-planting exercise involving the Sengwer indigenous community, which has endorsed the conservation-led approach.

Speaking during a recent partners’ roundtable meeting, the Interior Cabinet Secretary warned that continued environmental destruction was undermining water security, livelihoods and social stability across the Kerio Valley and the wider Cherangany region.

For survivors in Chesongoch, the initiative offers cautious hope that long-term restoration efforts could help prevent a repeat of such tragedies.

Jelimo said the disaster has fundamentally reshaped community attitudes toward conservation, linking environmental protection directly to survival.

“We cannot go back to how things were. We must protect what is left and restore what we have lost,” he said.

In Chesongoch, where devastation still lingers, the disaster has become a stark reminder of the fragile balance between people and the environment and the urgent need to restore it.