Nyando flood victims to wait longer for help as Gov’t still looking for Ksh.19B to build dam

Flood victims in Nyando will wait longer for reprieve from the raging waters as the government restructures funding for the Koru-Soin dam.

Speaking in Kisumu on Friday, Water Cabinet Secretary Eric Mugaa indicated that works at the dam had stalled due to financial constraints as the government is unable to raise the Ksh.19 billion required.

The project had also faced hurdles as hundreds of residents sought compensation before the works begin.

According to the National Disaster Operation Center, more than 3,500 households countrywide have been affected by the floods, with 12 fatalities recorded.

“We’re also trying to change the conversation with development partners, to ask them that when they’re funding us for the project, let them also fund us for a position of land. So it’s the same process, same criteria that we take all over. The National Land Commission does their job (to value the land), and then we request Treasury to finance these activities,” said CS Mugaa.

This even as more than 300 families from Nyadina village in Nyakach were on Thursday displaced by River Sondu Miriu, which burst its banks following a night of heavy rains.

Disaster response teams coordinated by National Government Administration last week said they had begun evacuating over 240 households affected by the ongoing floods. 

Counties in the Lake Victoria Basin and North Western regions have experienced heavy rainfall resulting in isolated cases of flooding.